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Billy always convinces me to buy and sell stocks at the perfect time.  He must be a billionaire because he always asks me to give some of it up as he probably doesn’t need anymore.  When there is a selloff in stocks, he tells me to follow because that’s probably when the market is at its bottom; while the opposite is true too because he always tells me to buy stocks when everyone is optimistic, signaling a top in the stock market.

A few years ago, 2003 to be exact, Billy told me “It’s time to sell your stocks!  Look at your negative returns!  Cash out your index funds because you should put your money somewhere else!”  He is really good because the next few years turned out to be great for the stock market.  A couple of days ago when everyone was selling stocks, he tries to convince me again to sell because we needed to join everyone else.  He must’ve seen yesterday’s big move up coming.

Billy is truly my friend because he doesn’t want me to suffer the pain that I endure because my stocks are going down.  So, when fear is at its maximum signaling a bottom, he convinces me that I should sell just to get me that temporary relief.

Today though, I decided to start ignoring Billy.  Although I appreciate his friendship and advice for the past 20 some years, it is not making me rich.  In fact, even though he’s a billionaire, I’m still working hard for a living.  I have most of my life ahead of me, and I cannot keep listening to him anymore.

I need to think long term for my investments and ignore market fluctuations.  I want to be wealthy, but not busy.  I want to live happily, and not miserably.  I need to stop being silly, and definitely not listen to Billy.

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