Comments on: Train Wreck Tuesdays – The Dangers of Personal Finance http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/background/ The blog of the free, simple personal finance solution. Track all your spending automatically, find the best deals, save more money. And save the world. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:48:42 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Michael Dorazio http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/background/comment-page-1/#comment-138 Michael Dorazio Fri, 06 Apr 2007 06:41:17 +0000 http://mymint.com/blog/train-wreck/background/#comment-138 I learned the hard way The Danger of Being Greedy. After doing a significant amount of research and listening to advice from friends and investors, I bought into SAI Corp when it IPO'd. The initial performance was mediocre, but after about a month, the stock rose about 15%. I should have sold at that point and pocketed a nice 20% return, but instead I fell into the dangerous trap of greed. I kept telling myself "It's gone up this much already, if I wait just a little longer it'll go up even more," then when it started to fall, "it was up so high before, surely it'll go back up to where it was." I told myself that for two more months while the stock dropped down to below its IPO price. In the end I wound up with a 1% loss instead of the 20% gain I could have had. So here's the moral: keep emotion out of your wallet. Set rules for any investment and stick to them regardless of what your feelings tell you; in the end you'll end up a much better investor because of it. I learned the hard way The Danger of Being Greedy.
After doing a significant amount of research and listening to advice from friends and investors, I bought into SAI Corp when it IPO’d. The initial performance was mediocre, but after about a month, the stock rose about 15%. I should have sold at that point and pocketed a nice 20% return, but instead I fell into the dangerous trap of greed. I kept telling myself “It’s gone up this much already, if I wait just a little longer it’ll go up even more,” then when it started to fall, “it was up so high before, surely it’ll go back up to where it was.”

I told myself that for two more months while the stock dropped down to below its IPO price. In the end I wound up with a 1% loss instead of the 20% gain I could have had. So here’s the moral: keep emotion out of your wallet. Set rules for any investment and stick to them regardless of what your feelings tell you; in the end you’ll end up a much better investor because of it.

]]> By: Damon Billian http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/background/comment-page-1/#comment-137 Damon Billian Fri, 06 Apr 2007 05:40:37 +0000 http://mymint.com/blog/train-wreck/background/#comment-137 I paid for a car with cash. While it was nice to have no debt, I could've probably gotten a better deal & done something else with my money (my stock returns were a better return than the cost of paying interest on the loan). Other than that, like most people do in their twenties, I put myself deep into credit card debt (not a problem now). I paid for a car with cash. While it was nice to have no debt, I could’ve probably gotten a better deal & done something else with my money (my stock returns were a better return than the cost of paying interest on the loan).

Other than that, like most people do in their twenties, I put myself deep into credit card debt (not a problem now).

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