Investing 102

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by CRCRFT78

Out of curiousity, how do some of you decide how many shares to buy? I base it on what I can afford given the amount of money I have at that particular moment. For example, Greg, you picked up 400 shares of Apple & 1000 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, how did you come up with those numbers? Why not 500/800 shares? Just wondering everyones technique when it comes to picking shares.

It's a good question but one without a correct answer....

I actually "adjusted" yesterdays purchase after thinking about it -- and sold 500 CMG and bought 200 more AAPL.... so now have 500 CMG and 600 AAPL...

I look at my cash -- and the account that the stock I want to buy is in... and then my LIMIT is 2 or 3% of investable funds. Most people use 5% - but 5% for me gets to be a pretty big $ amount... so it's all just based on what your situation is.

I ALWAYS try to keep a pretty sizable cash position as well.... cash is always king -- you never have to sell into a down period (that can last 2 or 3 years) and you always FEEL BETTER having cash... so I could make that a consideration as well.