Abaci's Common Sense Investing

Of course I'm not about to commit one. There's nothing which hurts more than seeing a sold stock go up further, which causes at least double the pain than of keeping a losing stock. It's because a losing stock can always come back while a sold stock is gone forever. Of course one could make use of the proceed and earn just as much with a subsequent purchase, but somehow our cognitive mind won't recognize that but forever stuck in the dollar that was meant to be.

I'm writing this post as I'm experiencing this pain 1st hand. While I was trimming down some of my positions (note 'trimming' and 'some' only as I knew liquidating would create unbearable pain and probably regret too), I found myself heavily divided in the classic greed vs fear struggle, so much so like a mental patient with an unstable mind.

On one moment I'm totally pleased with my return this year that I'm happy to go away for a long vacation and come back next year. On another moment I long for staying for the magic moment to arrive, something like a countdown and fireworks in a new year's eve party. This state of mind is a new experience to me and I think the market is having heavy influence on my otherwise rational self.

The market is in a twilight zone now. Indexes are up everywhere and almost everyday. Bears are either squeezed into extinction or become converted bulls. There's no negative news, or no news can be perceived negatively. The press is all upbeat, even the traditional bearish Mr. Cho of HKEJ has kept quiet for a while (for he has been mostly wrong in market direction since the middle of last year). I find it extremely difficult to find a contrasting view. The market has becoming highly uniform in opinion.

Why worry when the A-shares are trading twice as expensive and still not falling?

On the street level, twice each on a taxi and a minivan at night time recently (total 4 occasions) did I find the radio was tuned to the Metro financial channel. My weight trainer nearly tripled his money from his 1st purchase even having sold in the March correction. In my stock search while there's a lot of good companies to write about, there's not a lot of recommendations which can be made. On the other hand I found more bargains on ebay so I'm spending increasing time there, hence lesser output here.

While everyone knows the ageless wisdom "cut the losers and let the winners run", make sure what you hold are really long term winners, not just pricewise.

DISCLOSURE: I still hold shares.