Should I Stay or Should I Sell?

It's hard not to get excited about rising stock prices in our portfolios, but those gains can often leave us wondering if we should sell while we're ahead or hang on to see if they'll continue. On the flip side, declines can leave us feeling anxious and wondering if it's time to sell or wait for a turnaround.

The million-dollar question then becomes: When should you sell?

"Every individual has a different emotional DNA – so it's important to ask yourself what's guiding you when you consider selling a stock: your intellect or your emotions? If it's your emotions, there's a good chance you will regret your decision," says RBC Behavioural Economics expert Michael Sherman.

"If you are waiting for the perfect moment to sell a stock, you will be waiting forever. The perfect moment never comes," Sherman says.

Still, there are some smart ground rules that can help guide your decisions.

When prices fluctuate and you're wondering if you should be hitting the sell button, revisit your original investment plan – the one that helped you determine just what kind of investor you are in the first place. Can't remember or didn't really set a plan? Ask yourself:

• What is my goal?
• What kind of investor am I? (secure, income, balanced, growth, aggressive growth) Does this investment align with my tolerance for risk?
• What are my needs and time horizon? (Did I buy this stock for the short-term or as a core holding for long-term growth and a hedge against inflation? Did I buy the stock for its attractive dividend to address my income needs?)

Your answers can help you determine if the reasons for buying your investment in the first place still hold, or if it's time to sell to realign to your goals.

Tip: If you have more than one account, you can group your accounts together for a big-picture view of all of your holdings by going to Create & Manage Account Groups under My Portfolio. How does your investment fit overall? Choose to view your holdings by asset mix on your holdings page to see a breakdown.

A rules-based discipline for selling can help remove emotion from the decision-making process. "A disciplined approach to selling almost always works to the benefit of the investor," Sherman notes.

What kind of ground rules apply to investing? Here are some considerations:

Establish Price Targets: Price targets can help make it easier to not overstay your welcome on the upside and limit your losses on the downside. It's important to review a stock's fundamentals, which can help you set an upside price target for where you think a stock's price can go and a downside price at the level you'd be prepared to sell.

For instance, setting 20 per cent upside/downside targets would look like this:

Buy price = $10

Upside target price = $12

Downside target price = $8

Tip: Setting a stock alert on your Detailed Quote page (look for the bell icon) will notify you if a stock rises or falls below a level you specify, hits a new 52-week high or low, reaches specified volume milestones and more.

Limit weights for individual holdings and sectors: This is about limiting concentration (or weight) in any one holding or sector to reduce risk. You set percentage limits and if a weight drifts above your threshold, you can sell some to bring it back in line with your comfort zone.

Set asset mix parameters: Diversification helps to lower risk. Set and revisit your asset mix from time to time to make sure there's alignment between your mix of investments and your risk tolerance, time horizon and goals. For example, you may have set a 60/40 mix of stocks to bonds for yourself, but the outperformance of one or the other may put the balance out of whack, which could mean you'd need to sell to bring you back to your target.

Tip: Use the Portfolio Analyzer under My Portfolio to view your holdings concentration, sector weights and asset mix. Ask yourself if you're comfortable or if you prefer to be more diversified.

Even with ground rules in place, it can still be hard to take action. As part of your strategy you might also consider:

Stop orders: Stop orders let you set specific prices for securities you want to buy or sell. Setting a bottom price at which you are willing to sell a stock you own (below the current market price) or setting an upper price on a stock you'd like to buy (above the current market price) can help alleviate emotional decision-making. Find out more in What are Stop and Stop-Limit Orders?

Watchlists: With one glance, you can view the stocks you're tracking, get a quote, track gains and losses on each of your investments and place a trade directly from your watchlist.

Trading Dashboard: With automatic access to real-time streaming¹ quotes for stocks and ETFs, your Trading Dashboard will quickly become your one-stop tool to rely on during your trading day. Here you can watch the markets, keep an eye on your holdings and trade, all in one place.

Tip: A Practice Account lets you use the same order entry screens you would use for actual trades, which means you can try out different trade types on a risk-free basis.

Emotions can be hard to keep in check when investing, particularly when it comes to making sell decisions. Taking a pause to revisit your original plan and ground rules can help keep you headed in the right direction.

Judy McKinnon contributed to this article.