In one of the books I've read (but cannot remember), the author suggested investing and by extension, selling stocks with a purpose. This purpose is non-exhaustive and can range from buying a car, paying child's university education to retirement fund. The concept is essentially like a saving accounts albeit that investing in stocks will generate high returns. Need money for house at 32 years old? Start putting money into stocks every month till the time you buy a house.
The reason why I’m mentioning this is due to the fact that I had
sold my Apple Inc holdings recently. I had mainly thought to sell Apple Inc as
its iPad sales were weak and the next catalyst should be the launch of iWatch.
Having tried the cheaper version of Mi band, I feel that wearable devices are
not going to be as indispensable as something like the iPhone. Within one month
putting the Mi band, I had stopped wearing it as it was too troublesome to keep
it on all the time and the function of tracking steps and sleep was not worth
the trouble. Having Apple trading at the high, I decided to sell it at $124.30.
Should I have sold this stock due to short-term gains? For me,
investing right now is for capital appreciation and to fund my university
education. Selling in this period even for short-term gain seems like an OK
choice personally. The lesson to take away here is that investing should be
done with a final aim in mind. Only when you are approaching the period when
you need the physical cash that you should start liquidating the holdings you
have.
Apple is currently trading at $129.49 and it looks like I sold too
early or on wrong premises! However, gain is still a gain. 40% gain for this
stock.
