If you’re a long-term investor, your portfolio may stay fairly stable over time. However, that doesn’t mean you will never sell any investments. But when should you sell — and why?
Here are some scenarios to consider:
• If an investment has consistently underperformed – For one reason or another, some investments may not live up to your expectations. Rather than holding these investments in the hope that they will eventually show consistently positive returns, you might be better off selling them and using the proceeds to buy other investments that could help you make progress toward your goals. Keep in mind, though, that short-term price swings are inevitable for virtually all investments, so you may not want to sell an investment after just a few price drops, as it may still have strong fundamentals and good prospects.