Thank you. I do feel like an idiot and I appreciate your point. It could have just as well gone the other way and the losses would’ve been much bigger as you say. Better safe than sorry and live to trade another day.
I’m learning that labeling myself positively or negatively in hindsight based on trades I take is foolish and an illusion, since, for example, if TSLA continued to go up after I BTC this morning I’d feel very smart for doing so, but not closing when I did would have also been a gamble.
So yeh, I can't really attribute being smart or an idiot to such decisions, especially as there was at least some thought process behind it.
The labeling based on hindsight - that is a personal insight that many people never have for themselves.
The question to be pondering, and this is generalized for all of us including me -- what did you know THEN that you could have used, given the new information you have now about how things work, that would lead you to make a difference decision in a similar situation in the future. I gotta work on that - it goes better with a story.
Years back, in the 08/09 time frame, I found a dividend paying company that I KNEW was mis priced. They were paying a $1/share annual dividend and shares cost $40 (10% dividend). The company financials were so stable / good that it was a great deal at $80 / 5% dividend. It was such a good deal that it took me 2 weeks of wondering what I was missing before I finally pulled the trigger.
And it worked EXACTLY the way I hoped it would, as I owned that company for 6ish years. The dividend increased every quarter, not just annually, and eventually split and sold for about $40.
The problem was after I saw it, did my due diligence.. then I dabbled. I bought $5k at a time when I could have invested $20k and should have done $50k.
The learning - when I see something that good, and I do my due diligence, then don't dabble.
The result - Tesla came along in 2012, 4 years later. When I test drove the car (wow - the product matters; it was my personal iPhone moment), I didn't dabble when we invested. We got our personal maximum sized position that we were willing to take on at that point in time. Today I get to tell this story while retired, partly due to that decision. And the mistake that preceded it.
The decision in 08/09 wasn't a mistake. Just that something that in hindsight I would do differently in the future. And did.
What did you know at the time that you didn't put enough priority on? Or what didn't you know, but now realize that you should have learned, before making that decision? So that you put that priority / do that research, the next time a similar situation arises?
(but seeing how TSLA is struggling this morning in the low $170s, they would maybe have still been safe)!
