Taking profits

[haha]

Not knowing when to take profits had been, and still is, my problem. I was thinking about putting stop loss orders on my holdings, but worry that I'll be stopped out from normal market movements, especially when I am holding the stocks for dividend income. But I have looked with dismay at a few of my stocks that peaked and then took a dive.

These stop loss orders can work out very badly in the infrequent but not unkown situation of a quick market downdraft, which then gets restored equally quickly. In this case, you can lose big with stop loss orders.

In my view it is better to keep these sell points in your head, and act deliberately if you decide to act. Probably better yet is to give up dreams of moon rockets, and buy and sell based on the value you perceive relative to the price quoted, or use a programmed rebalancing technique.

Ha