When to sell

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17. Conclusion

Most private investors spend 80% of their time deciding which stocks to buy and what to pay for them, and 20% of their time on which stocks to sell and what to sell them for.

But selling is important. It turns paper profits into real profits, and brings a close to loss-making investments. The timing has profound implications, too, for income and capital gain tax.

• Spend as much time thinking about pruning your portfolio as you do about adding to it.
• Set yourself rules for selling, and stick to them.
• Whatever rules you follow, make sure that you water the flowers and pull up the weeds (not the other way round).
• If you choose mechanical rules, like a stop-loss system, don't let your emotions override the system, or you won't have a system at all.

You have now completed the course. To test your knowledge, take the Assessment test.

1. When should you sell? 2. What is your overall strategy? 3. Selling for passive investors 4. When to take profits as a value investor 5. When to take losses as a value investor 6. Selling for growth investors 7. Mechanical formulas for selling 8. Selling in order to reinvest 9. Stoplosses 10. The argument over stoplosses 11. Limitations of stoplosses 12. Profit warnings 13. Selling for traders 14. William O'Neil's trading system 15. The most important rule of all 16. Emotional problems 17. Conclusion

• Beyond the Zulu Principle