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Eight Secrets to Improving Your Portfolio Returns

By Joshua Kennon, About.com

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Ask the Peter Lynch Question

Peter Lynch used to say that at the end of every year, the investor should look over his or her holdings and ask themselves, “Knowing what I know now, and the price at which these stocks current trade, would I be willing to invest new money into the company under these circumstances if I didn’t already own a position?” If the answer is no, you need to examine long and hard your reasons for holding the equity.

There are a few situations where it may be okay to maintain the status quo, even if your answer is “no.” Perhaps your deferred taxes have grown so large as a result of a very small cost basis that selling and switching into an investment you expect to earn even three percentage points or more over the next decade will actually cost you money as a result of the principle value lost to the IRS. Maybe, even, it’s a simple matter of familiarity and comfort. It was Philip Fisher, author of the groundbreaking Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, who often exhorted his readers to be cautious about trading in the stock of a company they have known for many years and come to understand well for one with which they are not as familiar as it introduces different types of risk.

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