My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
For individual investors, selling stocks is almost always a mistake - the optimal strategy is to never sell quality investments regardless of market conditions or external signals.
The Reasoning
Human psychology consistently leads to poor timing decisions based on emotion, fear, or external noise rather than fundamental analysis. Transaction costs and tax implications compound these errors.
What Needs to Be True
- Investor owns quality assets with long-term growth potential
- Investor doesn't need liquidity for survival
- Markets continue to grow over long-term periods
- Investor can psychologically handle volatility without selling
Counterargument
Sometimes fundamental changes in companies or markets justify selling, and rebalancing portfolios requires some selling activity.
What Would Change This View
Evidence of individual investors consistently timing markets successfully or systematic approaches that reliably beat buy-and-hold strategies.
Implications for Builders
Set up automatic investment systems that remove selling as an option
Choose investments you can hold for 10+ years
Ignore market noise and external 'signals' about timing
Focus on earning more income rather than optimizing existing investments
Example Application
“Investor who bought Tesla at $30, received negative signals from Reddit and family conversations, sold at $200, watched it go to $1000+ and learned to never sell again.”