Yesterday the Motley Fool released their Hidden Gems recap, revisiting all the stocks they've chosen over the last six months. I was a bit concerned about the prospects for Paxar (PXR) and their review didn't do much to reassure me.
My 401(k) made me 24% over its first year virtually effortlessly through semi-monthly contributions to a variety of mutual funds. My Roth IRA, under my direct management -- well, the best I can say about it is that I haven't actually lost any money yet. My current rate of return essentially matches a savings account. So I'm thinking about getting out of stocks entirely for now, canceling my Hidden Gems subscription, and gradually switching into mutual funds or ETFs.
So with that in mind, and with the prospects of Paxar weighing heavily on me, I decided to grit my teeth and take a small loss on my PXR shares. I'm planning to keep my Blackboard (BBBB) and New York & Co. (NWY) shares for a while even if I shift over to mutual/ETFs, as I believe both companies' outlooks to be quite positive. My iShares Emerging Market ETF (EEM) is doing well. My Tech Sector SPDR (XLK) is not, but I'm going to hold that until at least the end of the year, then revisit it.
In retrospect, I think I'm probably just not cut out for trading stocks. My track record has not been good this year. I've spent a lot of time reading and trying to understand things but it seems as confusing as ever. But that's okay. It's the same way for a lot of people. Maybe I'll get back into it later, after I've done some more reading and have some additional funds to play with.
This may seem sudden, but I've been thinking about investing more passively for a while now. Stick it in and forget it... and get back to my life. Focus on what's important to me and let the money take care of itself. We're supposedly heading for a multi-year period of mediocre returns, in any case, which means stock trading won't be nearly as exciting as it has been over the past year. From a long-term buy-and-hold perpsective, that means I'll be able to buy a lot of shares at good prices, but it's not exactly thrilling.
So, sayonara for now and good investing!
Posted by kindall at September 23, 2005 03:36 PM