Profit from stocks

SueRight

Hi.
I put around 9k savings into several stocks inside an isa a few weeks ago. I’m around £2k up in profit. Should I cash out as I’m worried in case of a 2nd wave of the virus causing another crash.  My friends said I should wait until it reaches 5k profit and are encouraging me to deposit the rest of my savings, leaving only a few hundred or so left for a rainy day.  I need to realistic advice. Thanks.

Prism

You need to ask yourself why you invested a few weeks ago. Was for a long term return over lets say 10-15 years? Or were you thinking of making some short term quick returns? If you are not in it for the long term I would sell out now if I were you. Forget about a 5k return if thats the case as it could take years to get there. If you are in it for the long term you would be thinking of 100-200% returns not just 2k.

Alistair31

SueRight said:

 My friends said I should wait until it reaches 5k profit and are encouraging me to deposit the rest of my savings, leaving only a few hundred or so left for a rainy day.  I need to realistic advice. Thanks.

You need better friends. 

[Deleted User]

You bought stocks, so put stop loss orders on them. Set for example 10% below from current level. This will preserve your profit and will not let you go do negative territory and you can then wait for it to go higher as you wish it to.

As it goes up you can always raise the bar on stop losses to secure more profits, and it if goes down then well you taking home some nice profits (or at least no losses, depending on how many stocks you have and their particular profit percentages etc, but you get the point) with virtually no risk from now on thanks to stop loss.

Old_Lifer

I would agree  totally with   Prism .

If you had invested in funds  the risk would be spead   but you have chosen to invest in individual shares which is much riskier.   You may simply  have been 'lucky'  with your timing.    If you want  a quick profit , it may be better to take a £2000  profit now, rather than let greed  take over and   hang on for months  or years ,   chasing that £5000  profit at the end of the rainbow.

Albermarle

 I need to realistic advice

Nobody on here can see into the future, unfortunately . So if you want to gamble on short term stock movements then the only person who can decide what to do next is you .

[Deleted User]

Hi,

you must've hit it lucky and bought at a low, share prices have bounced back recently.

About 20% profit for a few weeks is pretty good, don't get greedy, as the chart shows, can soon go downhill.

[Deleted User]

Old_Lifer said:

I would agree  totally with   Prism .

If you had invested in funds  the risk would be spead   but you have chosen to invest in individual shares which is much riskier.   You may simply  have been 'lucky'  with your timing.    If you want  a quick profit , it may be better to take a £2000  profit now, rather than let greed  take over and   hang on for months  or years ,   chasing that £5000  profit at the end of the rainbow.

Why would he exit now, when he can use stop loss to exit in controlled manner, and potentially securing more profits without risking anything?

Thrugelmir

Which stocks have you purchased? 

vitamin_joe

Can't give any investment advice, as I'm just not qualified. My feeling is that your friends are reckless. If you feel caution, it is wise to listen to that feeling in yourself, rather than your friends, who appear to be cheering you on like a horse in a race!

End of the day it's your cash. You have to make the best decision for what YOU think about it.

vitamin_joe

 and are encouraging me to deposit the rest of my savings, leaving only a few hundred or so left 

Sorry, only just saw this part. This is reckless and dangerous advice and makes me feel quite angry, frankly! It reminds me of someone telling you to bet your house on a horse , 'cos "it's definitely going to win!" I hope you ignore further 'financial advice' from these people.

My personal bias is towards a crash in the markets, in the near to medium future. It's sort of irrelevant to the point I'm making, but I might as well declare it