I am a long term investor and am arrogantly proud of my stock-picking skill. I buy and then rarely sell – I do sell when I feel like selling to buy back – and even that hurts sometimes! I have been selling Coromandel International from Rs.570 onwards and have not been able to buy back! Next sale is planned for today (24th July at Rs. 840, if it reaches there).

So what makes a person sell his shares? My take is GREED and FEAR.

Suppose in Jan you looked at the market and read about Covid-19. Chances are like all of us you too would have thought it is a problem in China and done nothing about it. In Feb you would not have worried too much – remember the POTUS trip? Namo and DT went around like there was nothing much of a problem.

In March, the markets fell. Your portfolio really crashed. So you sold some shares and felt good. You were sure that the market will only go down further. However, in April the shares that you sold went up way above your selling price. You bit your lip, and stayed silent.

Then you did not do anything in June 2020, but then some of your mutual funds hit a new high. So again in June, you sold your large cap funds, and your mid cap funds. Now in July, you want to know whether to invest in mid and small cap shares.

Well well, I do deal with confused investors. What to do?