2 ms·

> By keeping your stocks you lost your money to inflation too, and then another 20+% because you held through a bubble pop. By holding stocks and not selling y

> By keeping your stocks you lost your money to inflation too, and then another 20+% because you held through a bubble pop. By holding stocks and not selling you have lost nothing: * https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market-timer/ https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market... "Losses" only occur when you lock them in. If your trading account is down now you have lost nothing—just like you haven't made money until you sell your holdings for cash. * https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crystallization.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crystallization.asp

senko 4y ago
To the downvoters: this is correct. Marking to market (looking at unrealized losses or gains, ie. the value of your portfolio before you sell) is useful if you trade on margin, use this as a collateral (borrowed against it), or plan to sell soon. In all these cases, this is because you need to sell (directly or indirectly) and thus lock in whatever the current value is. But until you sell, you have no actual (realized) loss (or gain).