In stock market parlance a dog is an investment that produces a low return or a loss. If youve any long term experience of the stock market you may well have owned shares that could quite easily have howled at the moon! It is a fact of life.
But unlike dogs shares are not for life. Long-term investing known as buy and hold may not work as well now as it did in the past as a stock market strategy. Competition in many industry sectors is much greater than it was and some companies adapt better than others. Just because a company was a
Many people now buy shares in the company they work for through Sharesave Plans. This can be a tax-efficient and cost-effective way of building up a share-holding. However that doesnt mean you should hang on to the shares forever. Youre already exposed to the company because you work for it. Investing in it increases your exposure. What if the company runs into problems - its share price could fall and you could be made redundant thus facing a double whammy of losses on your investment and loss of your income.
Dont become attached to a share weve said that already. Maybe you inherited the holding maybe its the first share you ever bought. None of that matters. Whatever your reason for holding the share in the first place you need to be clinical when it comes to selling. If the share is not doing what it should for you and is not likely to in terms of income generation or capital growth then you should sell.
Shares are not to be parked under the bed and forgotten about. You may check your share prices regularly perhaps even daily but do you actually review your holdings to see if your investment strategy still makes sense. If it does fine; if it doesnt sell! Take a cold hard look at your portfolio at least every two-three months.