Take the Loss

Golf is a very frustrating sport where form and concentration yield good results, but perfection is impossible.   People have spent billions to improve their game.  Part of the improvement process includes things like videos so you can actually see how you look from the outside looking in.  Improvement almost always begins by stopping something that is hurting your form like rolling your wrist or dropping your backswing.   It takes long hours of practice, limiting your mistakes, and most importantly, the ability to be honest with yourself.

Investing is no different.  Success sometimes results from stopping a bad habit like taking a loss instead of searching for that next great thing.  I spoke to a client who invested in a real estate deal that didn’t  turn out well.  It didn’t  turn out well because of a bad sequence of events.  He was presented with 2 options by his partners – put more money into the deal or parcel up the land between the partners.  It seems they forgot about his 3rd option, walk away.

When a deal goes south, don’t be scared to stop.  Investing is trial and error and to improve you sometimes have to stop doing something.  A simple gift of his shares to the other investors and he has removed the anxiety from his life forever (and a nice tax loss to boot).

  • Share this story!