I was also wondering what your average holding time was, or how many sells you average a year.
I always buy with the idea of holding indefinitely, never with the idea of a short holding period, but in practice I guess my average holding period is six months to two years. I sell when I’ve fallen out of love with the company or I think the story has changed, or I think that the price has gotten way out of line.
I had ELLI for over 2.5 years when I sold it. I think I had had IPGP for several years as well, when I sold it because I thought it was turning into a slow grower. Most of the stocks in my portfolio, I’ve had between 6 months and a year and a half now.
On the other hand, I usually don’t buy all at once or sell all at once, but taper in and taper out, unless I have a good reason to get out in a hurry.
Note that, with, for instance the two “tiny” positions that I mentioned in my current positions, the stocks I’m thinking about, I can decide not to take a position and exit those right away.
I always buy with the idea of holding indefinitely, never with the idea of a short holding period, but in practice I guess my average holding period is six months to two years. I sell when I’ve fallen out of love with the company or I think the story has changed, or I think that the price has gotten way out of line.
Saul,
Thanks for this. It makes most sense to me to trade this way. Holding for the sake of holding makes no sense; selling on bad news makes no sense; to get outsized returns, you have to run with the rabbits and think like a hare. If you think about it, this is quite similar to what MF Pro does except they have to do it with a few thousand people trailing along. You apply the same masterful research but can act swiftly since you only have you and your profits to worry about.
I really like your system which leads me to a Harvard Business Review article that I believe I read in the '80’s. After much research with different systems, much ado with numbers, discussions etc, they decided that copying a successful company was the best and most assured of winning business strategies.
Someone else also said it was a compliment. I mean it that way, too.
Mykie