Bank Shares

danielcrowe

Hi,
Tearing my hair out. Have shares in Lloyds, HSBC and RBS. Things seem to be going frmo bad to worse and I've no idea whether to sell (and realise a massive loss) or hold and hope they recouver. I don't need the money now and am prepared to play the long game, however lost money in Northern Rock and cant' bear to see any more of my hard earned cash 'disappear'!
Any advice greatfuly received.
Daniel

luvpump

I was advised to sell my B&B shares while they still had some value... I..e £300 , I didn't & ofcourse lost it all, a relatively small amount fortunatley, IMO sell them ..!

purch

Holding and hoping is never the best option.

I doubt very much whether Bank stock will ever recover (in real terms) to levels seen 24 months or so ago.

Ask yourself two questions.

1. Would I buy these Shares at the current level ?
2. If I bought now, what would be my price target ?

If the answer is to 1. is yes, then you should hold, and reassess when level 2. is reached.

If the answer to 1. is no...........then you know what you should do.

danielcrowe

Oops, realise my poll doesn't make sense. Should read 'Should I sell my bank shares'.

tradetime

Firstly I'm sorry for your predicament. it's hard to tell anyone what to do at this juncture, Purch has probably summed it up about as best as anyone could.

Of the three, the only one I would consider wanting to own is HSBC, and the problem with them is that they are about to do a big rights offer which will dilute existing shareholders who are not willing to pony up the extra cash.

For future reference though, to try and help you avoid this situation, you would appear to have committed a cardinal sin, that is to buy shares without a plan, if you had a plan, then you would know for yourself, simply follow the plan. Few people bother, but it saves a lot of grief when things don't go the way you expect.
Hope it works out best for you whatever you dicide to do.

danielcrowe

Tradetime, I did have a plan, but that seems to be out of the window! I have a larger portfolio but in hindisght have had too much exposure in the Banking sector. The longer term plan is to income generation with capital stability (hopefully growth!). I'm with a large stockbroking compnay and have lost all confidence in them. They advise holding.
Thanks for the advice, fingers crossed

tradetime wrote: »

Firstly I'm sorry for your predicament. it's hard to tell anyone what to do at this juncture, Purch has probably summed it up about as best as anyone could.

Of the three, the only one I would consider wanting to own is HSBC, and the problem with them is that they are about to do a big rights offer which will dilute existing shareholders who are not willing to pony up the extra cash.

For future reference though, to try and help you avoid this situation, you would appear to have committed a cardinal sin, that is to buy shares without a plan, if you had a plan, then you would know for yourself, simply follow the plan. Few people bother, but it saves a lot of grief when things don't go the way you expect.
Hope it works out best for you whatever you dicide to do.

kostigovs

Like the previous poster I too am sorry for your predicament.
You say you would realise a massive loss but what might be massive to one person might seem like small beer to another so that scenario makes it difficult to advise.

Who knows whether the value of these shares will ever again reach the dizzy heights in our lifetime.

If it was me-because I'm a panic merchant-I would sell and then watch as the share prices soared

gozomark

danielcrowe wrote: »

and cant' bear to see any more of my hard earned cash 'disappear'!

If you really mean that you have answered your own question - sell

Reaper

I cant see any improvement in those shares in the short or medium term. I bought Hbos (now Lloyds) shares planning to hold them for the long term taking the view that when the crisis is over the combined group would dominate the market.

With hindsight I wish I hadn't as I have seen big falls but I'll stick to my plan.

tradetime

danielcrowe wrote: »

Tradetime, I did have a plan, but that seems to be out of the window! I have a larger portfolio but in hindisght have had too much exposure in the Banking sector. The longer term plan is to income generation with capital stability (hopefully growth!). I'm with a large stockbroking compnay and have lost all confidence in them. They advise holding.
Thanks for the advice, fingers crossed

Fair enough, in that case, as I said before Purch's advice above is as good if not better than anything more I can say.

TDS_2

Again - sorry to hear your bad news.

It's probably tempting to hold out; that way you don't have to crystalise (admit) your loss. Part of human nature.