Yes, but you could also have invested your money elsewhere and continued to see growth. Except for the complexity involving taxes and fees, if your money sits

Yes, but you could also have invested your money elsewhere and continued to see growth. Except for the complexity involving taxes and fees, if your money sits in Tesla shares for a long time and the stock stays flat, then you've lost money. Both in terms of opportunity cost and through inflation. And this is irrespective of when you bought them.