Prepare for pain while you feel good

To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace. – George Washington

Well, we had a blast meeting up with a bunch of you TradingWithCody.com subscribers and a few of David’s other friends last night in downtown LA.

One of the most important topics that came up last night was how important it is to be prepared for painful times in the portfolio. Nobody’s stock portfolio goes straight up forever, and everybody needs to be prepared for those times when you get cold. Can you handle being down 10-15% or more for six months? It will happen to you at some point in the next 10 years — you’ll be cold in your trading for months-longs stretches.

And I want all of you right now, while the markets are up through the roof and our positions have been rocking to think about whether you’ll be okay when all this happens to you at some point. And if you’re hoping to depend on your trading for living expenses and income, will you be okay if you can’t take money out of your stock account in six months because the markets went against you for a while?

I am headed out to meet Steve Wozniak before he gives his speech (did you know that Mac doesn’t try to spell correct Wozniak? I just noticed) at the Apple Investment Summit. I speak a couple hours after that so I guess Woz is opening for me? Ha.

Anyway, I’ll be at the Summit all day and we should really have a lot more trading action and what not next week.  And don’t forget that earnings season is just a couple weeks away from kicking of again too.