"Tom held some shares in Disney, and while he liked the company, he thought its stock price was a bit rich at the time, so he sold the Disney stock to fund the

"Tom held some shares in Disney, and while he liked the company, he thought its stock price was a bit rich at the time, so he sold the Disney stock to fund the purchase of the piano. Tom never got back into Disney and instead watched it rise and rise. Years later Tom would walk through his living room, see the piano and mutter to himself, "That's the most expensive damn piano on the face of the planet!"" I have heard this story about Intel, Microsoft, Yahoo, kitchen floors, new cars, and masters degrees. I bet at least 50% of the US GDP has been attributed to selling great growth stocks too soon -- or rather, to a friend of a friend doing so. Sadly, we don't have any great stories about people cashing out of leveraged positions in Enron ("Have I ever told you about my negative four hundred thousand dollar house?").