Most investors believe in selling at some point. Whether it’s the day trader who buys 1,000 shares of AAPL with the intention to sell a few hours later, after he has earned a dollar per share, to the financial advisor who would have you sell some of your winners quarterly to rebalance toward the underperformers, selling is expected.

However, unlike those people, I don’t believe in selling – ever. I buy as if I am going to hold the investment forever. This helps develop a long-term mindset, which will also help you make wiser choices. If you have to choose something to be stuck with forever, you will be more likely to choose wisely and less likely to jump into something stupid.

There are only 3 cases where I would sell:

1) You need the money
2) The story changes (the company’s future is now at risk)
3) There’s a better investment

It’s been about 2 years since the crypto/ETF craze that lost almost everyone money, and many people I know are wondering whether they should sell, as their altcoins look to be going nowhere. My advice to them is: unless you need the money, you made your bed, so now lie in it. Crypto has always been highly speculative, like a lottery ticket. You went into it for that reason, and that reason has not changed. It still has the same chance of skyrocketing as it does of going to zero. Invest for the long term. This applies to any investment you have made.

Unless you need the money, the story has changed, or there’s a much better investment, keep it.

What about rebalancing? Don’t many financial advisors recommend you sell the high performers and buy the beaten down ones if the allocation has left the percentages you set? (For example, if the asset allocation you decided on with your financial advisor is 80% stocks and 20% bonds and the stock market has been on a bull run the last 3 months, bringing you to 83% stocks, 17% bonds, your advisor may tell you that you should sell the 3% of stocks and use the money to buy bonds)

I agree that rebalancing is necessary but I disagree on the method. Selling creates a taxable event, which we want to avoid. In this example, instead of selling stocks and rebuying bonds, I would put all future contributions towards the asset you are underweight in, until the desired allocation is restored.

So even to rebalance, my opinion remains the same – never sell. Buy and hold.