In March 2020, when stocks all around were sinking, I wrote a post about how I was investing my money.
In that post, I mentioned about a stock I had bought in mid-February 2020 that was down 60% from my original purchase price in just a month. My total investment in the stock was then around 3% of my stock portfolio, and it was down 55% from the total invested amount.
Here is a quick update on that. That stock is now 3.5% of my portfolio and is down just around 7% from the total invested amount. The stock has almost doubled from its March lows when I wrote that post.
A few other stocks I had purchased in March and April 2020 are up anywhere between 40% and 120%.
In short, my portfolio is doing perfectly fine. It provides an adequate boost to my ego when I glance at it.
But as much as I may deny, looking at my portfolio also fills me with a little regret.
Regret?
Yes, that sneaky powerful emotion of not doing things that you now think you could or should have done in the past, which leads you to bash yourself with thoughts like “I wish I had bought that auto stock that was a steal in March,” or “I wish I had bought more of that consumer stock that was at its multi-year lows,” or “How could I be so dumb not investing in that stock that I knew was going to rise when times improve?” etc.
I was sitting on cash in March 2020, almost 50% of which I managed to employ when the prices were low.
The remaining 50% that I could not employ because I did not expect such a sharp surge in valuations is what fills me with regret.
That is how the human mind works. It always wants “more.” It always makes you feel “inadequate.”
This is even when you know that you have more than enough to be happy and did the best you could have in the situation you were in.
But then regret is such a powerful emotion that it manages to sneak in somehow into the machinery of your mind and ruffle a few feathers here and there.
Now, I can choose to act on this feeling of regret in two ways.
One, I do not move forward because I remain stuck in that feeling of not doing something I could have done in the past.
Or two, I let the regret be, keep doing my work, and focus on things I control and not on those I don’t.
Thankfully, over years of learning from the mistakes I have made and those made by the wisest of people, I easily choose the second option – not making decisions out of regret but through a well-defined process, always.
Yes, being completely human, some or the other regret is always there to trouble me, just that I know how I must react to it instead of giving in to its sneakiness.
What about you?
In case you missed the last few months’ surge in stock prices, how are you dealing with it?
That’s about it from me for today.
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Stay safe.
Regards,
Vishal
Regrets galore over the years, including this March.
In my case, I thought of selling a stock I had in my tax sheltered pension account.. It touched US $ 59 in Feb. I knew it was way ahead and will pull back.. With March lows, it went to $ 23 /24 .. Of course, I had not raised cash so I could not do anything but thankfully I sat on my position..
Today, the stock is $ 120.. I have raised some cash by selling some but I am not going to totally exit that position.. Symbol is ENPH on Nasdaq.. It is a solar stock and Management and CEO is top tier and actually Indian.. 🙂
I was invested fully then so just swaped to better companies from bad one as per my understanding to good one but from oct month started booking profits in few but my regret is market is moving higher and higher and now i am in cash 15% of my portfolio… Regret to hold cash when stocks are moving high and high but not having much cash when market crashed…
Lots of regret initially, cashed up since 2018 waiting for an opportunity. Deployed 20% of cash and some great returns on it but due to full time job just could not move fast enough on some. Still, I have learnt that the thing about the markets is that there is no shortage of opportunity and another one will be around soon, so regret is under control but not completely gone.
My story was tragic. I was saving for such March lows in equity from 2017 onwards in Ultra Short Term fund as I wasn’t comfortable to invest in bull run.
Just then I was preparing to go all out with UST funds, Franklin shuttered fund denying the access of my funds that I painfully built over a period of 3 years.
As my UST funds still locked till date with court cases and so on, my despair only got worse with markets touching all time highs.
It just reminds me that a man hit with hammer would receive not one but two blows. If he is injured, he would face mounting hospital bills and perhaps lose job.
If he is dead for hammer blow, job gone, investment gone and family orphaned with burden of hosp & funeral bills.
Whenever any regret comes. I try to focus on the PROCESS of value investing(ignoring the bull run) and not on the outcome.
Courtesy- Scott adams
Regrets galore!!! Market behavior always ensures that one is round the corner always!!! Nevertheless, there is no need to take to heart as such opportunities revisit quite often although not on global scale but on stock specific events. Patience is the virtue which is going to tide over all our regrets at an opportune time for sure!!!
Watch, wait & grab!!!