David's Blog

Selling Stock

OK, I just sold 273 shares of Altria despite myself. (Note: 180 of that is Joy's and the other 93 shares are mine.)
The only reason I did this was that I made a plan, prayed about it, and decided to stick to it.

The plan was to double this money every year -- just like a good steward. To do that, I would choose one company to invest in each month. I would buy as many shares of that company's stock as I could, and then hold it until one of three events transpired.
A) The stock appreciated by 10% before the end of the month
B) The stock depreciated by 2% before the end of the month
C) The end of the month

In the last year, option B didn't really happen. That was awesome! I ended the year with more than a 100% gain, and was pleased to measure up as a good and faithful steward of this money that God let's me monkey around with.
This is the first month of a new year, and option B reared it's ugly head. Not only did option B come up, but it came up in such a way that caused me to squirm inside in a big way.

See, Altria has legal troubles. They come and go from time to time, and don't really mean too much to the long-term health of the company, BUT people always decide to hop out of the stock whenever this bad news comes up. Usually that last two to five trading days and then the stock comes back up and things progress normally. Knowing this, I still decided to sell the position based on the principle. It hurts. I can't care about it anymore (after I write this blog) though, because that is really the market's and ultimately God's perogative. I'll likely still do really well this year -- I'm just starting a little behind.

(Actually, I guess I'll be starting right about where I should have been, because we made more than 100% last year.)

Last Note: I don't know if I have blogged about this or not, but I set the bar for myself at 100% earnings every year. This is an absurd expectation to most people who invest in the stock market, but I think that it is right for me. In fact, I feel convicted that I should expect this every year, because of that one reference to it in the Bible. Oh well, people shake their heads and doubt every step of the way down any path to a goal. I just need to get used to that.

Posted by David at September 22, 2004 03:53 PM