Posted by on October 2, 2014
I read a sports blog today where, for the first time in my experience, someone actually suggested the Patriots might want to trade Tom Brady. I’m a loyal Pats fan, but I (who professes no great knowledge of football) have had that thought in the back of my mind for a while now. I’m sure many Patriot fans will be incensed at the thought of it. “What?! Trade Brady? No way!” He’s been an excellent quarterback for 14 years but let’s admit it, every quarterback gets older and slower year by year. It’s time to look at Brady and ask, why is he underperforming? Is it his fault or the fault of the team?
The same can be said of your investment portfolio. Don’t fall in love with a stock or mutual fund and blindly ignore signs that indicate it’s time to sell. You could be jeopardizing the performance of your portfolio if you refuse to give each security a cold, hard review. Look at the facts: has anything changed that might signify it’s time to sell? In the case of a mutual fund that might be a manager change, change in strategy or change in benchmark.
Poor performance is not always a reason to trade your player (every asset class has time periods when it underperforms) but it is a reason to look more closely at the offensive line.
