After the past few weeks of owning Facebook (FB), I can say one thing is absolute: I am sick and tired of owning it! Maybe I was spoiled by my first two stock purchases, but this one has not panned out quite as well as I had hoped. If you read my previous post, you know that I bought FB near what I assumed was the bottom of its fall. Just a month before, I thought that $25 was the floor for this stock. So when the day came that it traded for $24 and change, I jumped on the opportunity, foregoing other opportunities including McCormick (MKC), General Motors (GM), and Caterpillar (CAT). MKC has now gained a couple bucks and GM rose 10% in one day after it was announced they had exceeded expectations of sales in Europe, while CAT has been stagnant.
Here, I guess, is what drives me mad about FB: after I purchased it and it lost value, it has a couple times almost regained everything I lost, only to fall once again down into the $22-23 range. Yes, this is about how the stock market happens for everyone at some point. And yes, I realize I could be much worse off. Should I regret this decision? No, but I really want to.
I keep wanting the stock to get back up to just above where I bought it so I can wipe my hands clean of it. But I'm constantly reminding myself that this isn't about what I have now or where things sit right at this moment, but instead this is all about long term. As I've said before, I want to have a goal in mind when I buy each and every stock. So I plan on sticking this out until I achieve my goal, or at least I hope to get closer than breaking even. I don't need this money right now, and I don't plan on doing anything with it until I retire, or at least do something more long term than buy dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. I'll keep FB until it gets closer to $30 at least.
I always heard that you make a mistake in your first stock purchase. I was determined to not let that happen, so if owning a stock (SIRI) for a month and making a quick $40 (after trading fees) is considered a mistake, I hope to be the worst trader ever! The stock has slid further from where I sold it, to the point where I would have lost half of the gains I made if I still owned it. And my second stock, RDN, has proven to be quite successful, and I only see it climbing higher as the year goes on. It's off its highs, but I'm not the least bit concerned as the housing market continues to sound promising. I'm still planning on selling half of my shares when the stock doubles.
So what's next? Well I will admit that saving money hasn't been quite as easy as it was just a month ago. The girlfriend and I moved into a new (and much nicer and larger) place at the beginning of the month, so we dealt with all of the expenses that come with moving. Add to that the fact that I just used the money I had saved up to pay for tuition for the summer, my funds are mostly dried up. So I'm getting back to it as quickly as I can, but for right now I'm putting my stock buying on hold. I'll still be posting updates as time goes on, though, so be sure to check back in!
