Should you get down when your stocks do?

No matter how experienced you are, nobody really enjoys buying in a stock, only to watch it down...down....and down some more.

When your stocks go down, do you panic? More importantly, should you?

The honest answer is...It depends.

It is important to remember WHY you bought stock in the company.

Do you feel like you bought it for the right reasons?

Do those reasons apply today, still?

• Has anything within the company changed for the worse since you bought it?
• Has any of its competitors significantly improved since you bought stock in your company?
  
• Has anything within the economy changed to make your "reason" no longer a good one?

If the answer is no, then just hope that you have money available to buy more of it. (See my blog "Stock Market: Am I the only one excited by this sale?")

If the answer is yes, then CUT YOUR LOSSES. Get out! Find what went wrong and see whether there is anything you could have seen--in advance--to be able to learn from it.

So should you get down when your stocks do?

Unless all of your stocks become bankrupt, AND you have no more income to replace any of it, I suggest that you should not get down. Instead, either (a) wait out the bad period or (b) learn from your mistake.