I started investing in individual stocks a few years ago. Initially I was successful, picking some early winners and gaining a fair bit of money.
Heartened by my early gains, I kept on putting in more money. Twice before I had big losses. Somehow I rebounded to the break even point or close to it those two times. The last time I was able to do it, I was close to thinking I needed money for a big expense coming up, but I thought I would be in better shape if I just took a quick stab at some quick gains at some companies down on their luck lately and that I could collect on a quick bounce.
Well I had some bad luck and one of my biggest investments went bankrupt over the course of a month.
Long story short, I kept on thinking things would pick up on some other ones but no matter what I touched, some bad news came out and the stock started tanking. Now, I am at a low point. I am lower than I have ever been before. Part of me is like I should just close up shop, liquidate everything, but it's very hard for me to do it.
I wonder if I would be throwing the baby out with the bath water and be selling too soon on some of these stocks. Also, knowing that there is no hope that things will turn around is crushing me. I worked so hard to save up all this money and now it's gone out of hubris.
There are a couple of key moments where I made stupid decisions... where I was about to pull out or hesitate on a risky move, but I made the wrong choice anyway.
I know it's lame to bring this up here on a Bills message board, but it's too hard to tell people close to me how stupid I was and the mistakes I made, esp. since I told them when it wasn't so bad earlier. I figure this cross-section of fans here might include some people who have been where I have been and might have some advice.
(What is left: EWJ, EVST, LU, F, GE)
It has taken over my life, obsessing over information, looking at whether I should trade or not. It's affecting my work quality and my social life.