"Let me give the truth up front--I don't know." MBAFBA
"I've been wrong on this many times." Zorkl55
"It depends. It always depends." TheRebelWhisperer
Those were a few of the refreshingly candid responses to my recent Discuss forum query about how to know when to sell a fund, and these ambivalent investors are clearly far from alone. Although a handful of respondents said that they hew to black-and-white performance metrics when deciding whether to give an investment the heave-ho, others said they use poor performance as a reason to add to their holdings when they're down.
Many others said that knowing whether to sell is more art than science. Performance may play a role, but so do fundamental factors such as manager and strategy shifts and stewardship issues. Other respondents said that they'll only scale back on holdings when their portfolios' weightings fall out of whack.
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"I've been wrong on this many times." Zorkl55
"It depends. It always depends." TheRebelWhisperer
Those were a few of the refreshingly candid responses to my recent Discuss forum query about how to know when to sell a fund, and these ambivalent investors are clearly far from alone. Although a handful of respondents said that they hew to black-and-white performance metrics when deciding whether to give an investment the heave-ho, others said they use poor performance as a reason to add to their holdings when they're down.
Many others said that knowing whether to sell is more art than science. Performance may play a role, but so do fundamental factors such as manager and strategy shifts and stewardship issues. Other respondents said that they'll only scale back on holdings when their portfolios' weightings fall out of whack.
Read More