Something to be said for taking gains…Right?

I definitely learned an important lesson about not taking extraordinary gains when they're on the table. Can't tell you how many stocks I passed on taking profit because I was only X amount of months away from them turning long-term for the tax savings. Now I'll always remember I'd rather pay a little extra tax on gains now, than risk this house of cards comes tumbling down completely in X months. Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

That being said, I did take plenty of gains here and there. Did well in 2020 and had the gains to show for it on my tax return. But I got cocky and wouldn't stop buying this 47-layer dip we've had in growth/tech that's now lasted nearly 1.5 years and I've given most of my gains right back.

I have gone to about 40% cash.

Surely I wish I had done it sooner, but my crystal ball was fogged up.

The rest is still in tech and I have not looked for the last two day.

Some of these companies are in pretty bad shape with rising rates, but if the company you're invested in actually produces products that people want and buy and are profitable. Just hold. It will come back.

Bought Disney stock during Covid in the 90 range and sold last august in the 180 range. I unloaded some index funds in January 2022 for some decent gains. I also loaded up on some technology mutual funds in April 2020 and unloaded them when they doubled in March 2021. Right now I still hold some index funds but I’m not in too bad of a spot with them. Also just pulled the trigger back into a technology indexed etf. I’ll admit a lot of my timing was luck with the Disney and technology fund. To be fair if you bought just about anything during the Covid dip and sold a year later doubling your money was easy. These days not so much. The loser for me was and still is crypto. Thankfully I only bought very little of it because it tanked. I fully expected and still do expect any money I put into crypto to vanish so it’s a rounding error on that money.

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Sheit, I cashed out last summer of everything except the ones paying pretty good dividends for the price point. Watched the market just keep going with my dick in my hand thinking what if but now I feel pretty good about it. Now the getting back in is causing me angst because one more good lick and I’ll consider my egg full enough but riding it down would cost me more time

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I just posted this in another thread, but it fits here too - don’t get greedy on the downside either. You didn’t sell at the top, but it’s still fallen well below your exit prices. As long as you get it all back in before it goes back up, you’ve won. Don’t make it complicated.

“Nobody typically goes broke from taking profits.”