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Like most things in life - do what is right for you and most importantly your mental health. I am not a prolific writer on public forums ( this is my second ever). Whilst this is not a recommendation for you to SELL or HOLD or BUY, reading some of the messages here prompted me to write below. I just felt sharing this could help someone who might be tethering on the edge due to loss incurred.
As a disclaimer - I sold my entire holdings @104 earlier today and took a loss of over 50K. I am NOT a millionaire, but comfortable with the level of risk I took on.
Taking a loss is never easy and gets more difficult the higher it climbs. Pressing the "SELL" button on my brokerage account this morning was the most difficult click I ever made. However surprisingly I felt an overwhelming sense of relief afterwards.
Rather than focusing on how much paper loss I have just crystalized, I was GLAD I was able to salvage what was left (glass half-full). No doubt SP could shoot-up after I sold, (I am not going to fret over what not meant to be if that turns out to be the case). In my case, as this was in my non-ISA investment account, I will declare losses in my next tax return, keep the documentations for tax purposes and gradually offset the loss against future capital gains (above my allowance). Glass half full.
The lightbulb moment for me was when i realized that apart from the Chairman, CEO and CFO, my paltry RR holding was way higher than the investment of all the other so called directors in the RR board. They all have very little to no skin in the game. DYOR. How can that be right? ? If the company was such good value and prospect bright as they profess, why aren't they all pilling in and purchasing the now cheaper stock like crazy? An RNS on substantial director buying could have helped sentiments. If they have so little invested (so potentially not much to lose) why will they care about the share price?
Ignore the gloaters, even Buffet losses sometime (check KraftHeinz). Perhaps the starting If you are wondering what to do next is, Ignoring what you have lost so far, If you were investing afresh TODAY will you put your money here? Do you have time to ride out the losses? "Can you afford to lose the rest (worst case scenario)"? If losing more is unthinkable, perhaps that's a good indication you are way above your risk tolerance level, time to bail out and salvage what is left. If do you sell, and see this shooting upwards, will you be able to bear the thought of " the one that got away" if you had stayed on? It will be different for different folks based on individual circumstances, stick to what is best for you.
And please if you do decide to sell, DO NOT rush off to invest all in another desperate aggressive strategy (eg leveraged shorting , except if you are a pro) to quickly recoup your losses. That will be a classic case of gambler ruin, you will likely lose more. Give yourself a cooling off period and gradually recoup your loss.
I am a long term holder, whilst not happy with the steep decline in shareprice, holding for a longterm , not likely to sell if it halves or doubles tomorrow. However every share holder what to be sure their interest is aligned with the management and that management have their skin in the game.
A quick search revealed a number of worrying facts (if correct??) see following link;
https://www.share.com/investments/shares/171/rolls-royce-share-price#directors
1. Apart from 3 or so directors, most have so little invested in RR, that boom or bust in SP will have little impact on them. Worringly for me, apart from the top 3 directors, I now have more shares in Rolls Royce than all the rest RR board!!
2. If the company is undervalued and they (i.e directors who should know if it is ) are convinced the future prospect is bright, why are they not using the current weakness to build stake? I dont mean token 900- 2K buys.
Perhaps someone one might have an opinion on what this foretells.