How high does "high" have to be to sell your stock? I've had a scottrade account for a while...

[phatj]

just wondering what you guys do.. i'm not really looking for investment advice just asking to see what other stock owners' like to do usually...

most of my stocks are up and i think i might sell the ones that are near 20% gains.....

so how do you guys figure out when you want to sell ur stock? (obviously those who are buying and staying on their investment for retirement 20 years from now aren't going to sell anytime soon... )

 

[merlocka]

1) Research
2) Buy stock
3) ...
4) Profit!

 

[Specop 007]

If I dont think I can get 10% minimum I dont go for it, I'll just continue to collect my dividends elsewhere.

 

[bigdog1218]

Use charts.

 

[dullard]

Obviously the best way is to do your research and give reasonable expectations as to a range where a stock should be. You'd be able to calculate a reasonable low end and a reasonable high end. Then you buy when it is near the low end and sell when it is near the high end. Of course, stocks aren't reasonable, and they will from time to time exceed your reasonable boundaries. During those unreasonable times, sell, buy, or hold depending on the specific circumstances.

Or if you don't want to do that much work, the next best bet is to rebalance your portfolio. If you have several stocks, buy them in equal weights. When one is 20% more than the median, sell it and use the money to buy the others. Conversely, when one is 20% less than the median, sell some of the high ones and buy the cheap one. Of course, you have to have enough stock that the transaction fees don't kill you when you rebalance (or do the rebalancing in your retirement account where there often aren't transaction fees).