Losses on investments in shares

Thrugelmir

Retireby40 said:

You only lose money when you sell the shares. At the moment your shares aren't performing and are worth less than you paid.

However in 12 months the could be worth more. Or less. 

Nobody really invests for 12 months. It's not long enough to ride the waves of uncertainty.

My advice. Log out of the app. Have a look at it in 2-3 years and review your position.

Hanging onto poorly performing investments is far from uncommon with new investors. Admitting to oneself that a bad investment choice has been made, is something that one needs to accept in order to become a better investor. Take the hit and crystallise the loss if there's better opportunties elsewhere for the money,

Retireby40

Thrugelmir said:

Retireby40 said:

You only lose money when you sell the shares. At the moment your shares aren't performing and are worth less than you paid.

However in 12 months the could be worth more. Or less. 

Nobody really invests for 12 months. It's not long enough to ride the waves of uncertainty.

My advice. Log out of the app. Have a look at it in 2-3 years and review your position.

Hanging onto poorly performing investments is far from uncommon with new investors. Admitting to oneself that a bad investment choice has been made, is something that one needs to accept in order to become a better investor. Take the hit and crystallise the loss if there's better opportunties elsewhere for the money,

You wouldn't suggest that maybe the OP needs to be patient? Esepcially as a lot of stocks are suffering with the current situation with Covid. 

Who's to say he won't plunge the money into something that has risen 20% this year only for it to drop the same next. 

Prism

Retireby40 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Retireby40 said:

You only lose money when you sell the shares. At the moment your shares aren't performing and are worth less than you paid.

However in 12 months the could be worth more. Or less. 

Nobody really invests for 12 months. It's not long enough to ride the waves of uncertainty.

My advice. Log out of the app. Have a look at it in 2-3 years and review your position.

Hanging onto poorly performing investments is far from uncommon with new investors. Admitting to oneself that a bad investment choice has been made, is something that one needs to accept in order to become a better investor. Take the hit and crystallise the loss if there's better opportunties elsewhere for the money,

You wouldn't suggest that maybe the OP needs to be patient? Esepcially as a lot of stocks are suffering with the current situation with Covid. 

Who's to say he won't plunge the money into something that has risen 20% this year only for it to drop the same next. 

In this case it would depend on which stocks. The OP says they had made a few bad choices so it may be better to just sell out, accept the loss and move on. Some of last years US tech risers might not recover to those peaks for many years. Some of them have never made a profit and that might not change.

Retireby40

Prism said:

Retireby40 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Retireby40 said:

You only lose money when you sell the shares. At the moment your shares aren't performing and are worth less than you paid.

However in 12 months the could be worth more. Or less. 

Nobody really invests for 12 months. It's not long enough to ride the waves of uncertainty.

My advice. Log out of the app. Have a look at it in 2-3 years and review your position.

Hanging onto poorly performing investments is far from uncommon with new investors. Admitting to oneself that a bad investment choice has been made, is something that one needs to accept in order to become a better investor. Take the hit and crystallise the loss if there's better opportunties elsewhere for the money,

You wouldn't suggest that maybe the OP needs to be patient? Esepcially as a lot of stocks are suffering with the current situation with Covid. 

Who's to say he won't plunge the money into something that has risen 20% this year only for it to drop the same next. 

In this case it would depend on which stocks. The OP says they had made a few bad choices so it may be better to just sell out, accept the loss and move on. Some of last years US tech risers might not recover to those peaks for many years. Some of them have never made a profit and that might not change.

Bad choices because he sees red at the moment. But the fundamentals of the company could be as strong as ever.

What I'm saying is people see their investments down after the first 6-12 months. Panic and think I better take them out before they go down more. Only for a turn of events and 2-3 years down the line be worth more. Or even less time.

You only have to look at Tesla. That is an extreme example but it shows how things can change.

Thrugelmir

Retireby40 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Retireby40 said:

You only lose money when you sell the shares. At the moment your shares aren't performing and are worth less than you paid.

However in 12 months the could be worth more. Or less. 

Nobody really invests for 12 months. It's not long enough to ride the waves of uncertainty.

My advice. Log out of the app. Have a look at it in 2-3 years and review your position.

Hanging onto poorly performing investments is far from uncommon with new investors. Admitting to oneself that a bad investment choice has been made, is something that one needs to accept in order to become a better investor. Take the hit and crystallise the loss if there's better opportunties elsewhere for the money,

You wouldn't suggest that maybe the OP needs to be patient? Esepcially as a lot of stocks are suffering with the current situation with Covid. 

Who's to say he won't plunge the money into something that has risen 20% this year only for it to drop the same next. 

I've assumed that the OP did their research thoroughly prior to buying the stock, and the fundamentals have subsequently changed. Covid isn't the only issue on the horizon for many companies. 

[Deleted User]

Hi,

any share that drops in value could be deemed a bad choice, in the short term, you only lose when you sell, though sometimes better to just sell, take the hit, and hope to pick a good choice.

You don't say how long you were invested, are you a 'day trader' type fella?

Retireby40

OP what companies did you invest in just out of interest sake?

sevenhills

[Deleted User] said:

Hi,

any share that drops in value could be deemed a bad choice, in the short term, you only lose when you sell, though sometimes better to just sell, take the hit, and hope to pick a good choice.

You don't say how long you were invested, are you a 'day trader' type fella?

I have held shares for around 10 years that dropped and then finally recovered and then I went on to sell at profit. National Express was one such share. They are now worth the same as what they were worth 25 years ago.

jimjames

sevenhills said:

[Deleted User] said:

Hi,

any share that drops in value could be deemed a bad choice, in the short term, you only lose when you sell, though sometimes better to just sell, take the hit, and hope to pick a good choice.

You don't say how long you were invested, are you a 'day trader' type fella?

I have held shares for around 10 years that dropped and then finally recovered and then I went on to sell at profit. National Express was one such share. They are now worth the same as what they were worth 25 years ago.

So if you'd sold out you'd have had growth from elsewhere in that 25 year period.

masonic

jimjames said:

sevenhills said:

[Deleted User] said:

Hi,

any share that drops in value could be deemed a bad choice, in the short term, you only lose when you sell, though sometimes better to just sell, take the hit, and hope to pick a good choice.

You don't say how long you were invested, are you a 'day trader' type fella?

I have held shares for around 10 years that dropped and then finally recovered and then I went on to sell at profit. National Express was one such share. They are now worth the same as what they were worth 25 years ago.

So if you'd sold out you'd have had growth from elsewhere in that 25 year period.

This is an important point. There is an opportunity cost to hanging on to bad investments. The adage "would you buy it today?" is a very useful guiding principle to help avoid falling into such a trap.