Sold stock ((NYSE:BEE) at a loss for tax deduction (in year end of 2009), but forgot to buy it back in Jan 2010. Now the stock doubled the price from where I sold it. I am not trying to predict the stock price in near term, or think “what if” from hindsight here. I think one key reason I did not hold the stock is still due to my ignorance: I don’t know how to value it (as REIT). I saw someone put an quite optimistic est. at around $2.50 in last Dec.
Back the topic, another reason I think I did not hold the stock is because it dropped precipitously in last Dec., and I started to sell some after initially bought quite a few shares. As I sold when the stock started bouncing, I sold too early. After a while I only have a few thousand shares, I sold them at around $2: thinking to take advantage of the loss for tax deduction, and hope to get back when the price drop again the the Jan.
But obviously I did not jump back to this bandwagon in Jan.
Think long term and trade less
I have quite a few stock lessons lately, as I became new dad and think more long term about the finance (hint: pay for kids’ college), I think I need to focus more on long term.
A second point is “trade less”, as shown in the previous example, when I started to sell shares of BEE, little by little, my mind was already set to sell “all the shares”, especially when there are only a few shares left.