I’ve traded stocks since the age of 12 years old - buying 60 shares of Mattel Inc at for $13 1/8 (yes, I remember the days when stocks were traded in fractions). I think Mattel has been the only stock that I have ever held for over a year - until recently. I don’t know why, but I think the mainstream media’s consistent drumbeat of “buy-and-hold” investing got the better of me, or maybe I have just been lazy, but I have held a few stocks for quite sometime now. I have watched these stocks fluctuate up and down pretty consistently, yet I have not pulled the trigger and traded them.

The problem? I think it is because I hold more than one stock. Back when I only held and traded one stock at a time I was able to keep a close eye on performance and develop a deep understanding of how the stock traded on a daily basis. I could develop almost a 6th sense of when the stock was going to break-out to the upside, or continue a slow steady decline. Once you start creating a “long-term diversified” portfolio, you lose your advantage. It takes too much time to monitor each stock and trade commissions start to eat into your profits.

The point of this blog post? I need to sell all my stocks and go back to trading one stock with a disciplined trading strategy - take small profits, don’t be greedy, and don’t force trades. That is what made me successful in the past. Why I strayed away from this strategy is beyond me…

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