I succumbed to something that I think every novice investor is tantalized by: the stock that is super cheap today, but which quadruples in value overnight. I imagined that I would awake the next morning to find out that I'm a millionaire. The daydream is very alluring, but in reality that's not how it happens for investors like me.

It was so tempting to think that I would do better by owning more shares in a cheaper company, than owning fewer more pricey stocks. My first purchase was a Web company and it seemed like such a deal at $3.75 per share. I also believed that this company had the potential to grow and grow.

And then I located some important, and disturbing, information while lurking on a discussion board. Remember Moms to check-in from time-to-time on your boards that are filled with people who have also purchased stock in your company. And one other caution: don't believe everything you hear or read. Some of it is good advice and some is just rambling.

The information that I received about my company seemed, to me, worth listening to. A person on the board mentioned some potentially negative information that I had never considered, and which made perfect sense to me.

I then decided that I needed to sell my shares - and I had only held them for about a month. Yikes…I'm supposed to buy and hold. That has been my objective all along. And here I am selling, after just one month.

We've mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating: Discussion Boards offer a great forum for individuals to communicate with one another. However, please be sure to verify any information you receive from these types of forums before you act on that information. Your decision to buy or sell should be based on sound fundamental research.

Should I just hang on and hope for the best? I trusted my intuition when I first bought into this company. Can I no longer trust my intuition? What about this new information, which I also trusted?

And I finally yelled "Oh stop it!" to myself and sold the shares. This lunacy I believe is just part and parcel of being a novice investor. I just really didn't want to have to sell so soon. But the reality of it is…I made a bad choice and that's okay. It wasn't a costly choice and I learned a very important lesson…nothing is etched in stone.

Thankfully, for only $2.99 here at BUYandHOLD, I can change my mind without breaking my bank account.

When I sold my shares, however, I did monitor and try to sell when the stock price went up. I had purchased my stock at $3.75 I decided to sell it at $4.50. I at least tried not to lose money on the deal.

Oh…the ups and downs of high rollers and high finances. I feel like such a financial whiz now.

After I sold, I turned around and bought shares in a different company with the money I made. Another wonderful benefit that is offered by BUYandHOLD is dollar-based investing. Since I don't have to purchase an exact number of shares, I can immediately take the money from the sale of my shares in one company and put it into the purchase of shares of another company. The advantages of dollar-based investing show up all over the place.
So now I own .976 of a company whose per share price is out of my league. Not quite one share but it is a start and I'll just keep buying more as I go along.

I'm also running into questions concerning the contents of my portfolio. How many different stocks should it contain? Do I just keep adding more money to purchase securities in the 4 companies that I currently own? Hmmmm…the never-ending questions and my continued search for the answers, as we continue on the road to high finances and success for our future comfort.

Thank you for joining me,

Joyce