Opinions on continuing to hold Lloyds bank shares?

MaxiRobriguez

I was a buyer a few months ago at the tail end of April so I have basically broken even.

I'm holding. Inflation and UK market return-to-the-mean double play which diversifies from some of the bigger names in my portfolio. 

quirkydeptless

I will continue to hold my Lloyds shares which were originally free Halifax shares, and they serve, after their ~95% loss in value since original issue, as a constant reminder what can happen to an individual share investment. Plus I sometimes get the odd fiver in dividends 

Scottex99

HHarry said:

I’ve been waiting since 2009 / 2013 for the shares that I bought at 96 / 51p to break even.

 I really should have sold a long, long time ago, taken the loss and just stuck the money in a global tracker.  I’d have recouped that loss and more.  Now I’m just being pig headed and holding out for a profit- but it’s not a lot of money.

 You might make an easy profit, you might be waiting another 10 years for nothing / not much.  Or you could stick the money in a fund and stand a better chance - or certainly less risk.

I used to work for Bank of Scotland which became LBG after the crisis. Packed in banking to move to Spain and remember thinking I’d massively regret having to sell my 6k employee sharesave in 2014. Think the option was 46p maybe? 7 years later and I’d still have no profit 

LHW99

I have held since 2013, and bought small amounts since, the lowest price ones being at just under 40p per share. I'm happy to hold long term as they are about 2.5% of my overall portfolio, and about 6% of my "have a go" portfolio.

Sue58

I was fortunate enough to to buy in at more or less the bottom at 24.00p a share so I am well happy at the moment.

Thrugelmir

TUVOK said:

I'm currently on a 25% loss on my Lloyds bank shares, what to do?

Sell, if you've identified a better investment. Hanging onto poorly performing shares is a perfectly normal reaction. Harden up and bite the bullet when you make a poor investment decision. Take the loss on the chin and move on. 

fly-catchers

quirkydeptless said:

I will continue to hold my Lloyds shares which were originally free Halifax shares, and they serve, after their ~95% loss in value since original issue, as a constant reminder what can happen to an individual share investment. Plus I sometimes get the odd fiver in dividends 

Same here. I very naively thought I wouldn’t turn a loss on paper into a real loss! Big mistake!

DartfordKit

I'm continuing to hold for now. Bought some shares initially in 2016 and has been topped up by reinvested dividends over time and some more to balance in April 2020 at 32p. Hardly been a stella performer but makes up <5% of my portfolio at just over evens... could have been worse with some other banks during the last few years!

EDIT: latest results for Lloyds will be out in 2 weeks time too

steampowered

If you had that amount of money in spare cash, would you go out and buy Lloyds shares with it at today's share price?

If the answer to that question is "no", then this a classic example of loss aversion bias:
https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/resources/mini-encyclopedia-of-be/loss-aversion/

lozzy1965

steampowered said:

If you had that amount of money in spare cash, would you go out and buy Lloyds shares with it at today's share price?

If the answer to that question is "no", then this a classic example of loss aversion bias:
https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/resources/mini-encyclopedia-of-be/loss-aversion/

If the answer is "yes" however, then investing more to pound cost average your initial investment might be something to consider.  This is NOT a recommendation but the flip side of the answer to the above question.