To view the latest headlines and get real-time stock quotes on your mobile device, go to http://m.cnbc.com | | DOW | 10831.07 |  | -19.59 | -0.18% | | | NASDAQ | 2069.4 | | -22.48 | -1.07% | | S&P | 1161.06 | | -5.30 | -0.45% | | | | | |  | Tyler Mathisen, Managing Editor CNBC Business News
Today's lesson in Mr. Mathisen's class is entitled "Better late than never." Specifically, better to sell a tanking stock late than hold onto it until it loses all its value. Do the names Wachovia, Lehman, AIG ring a bell? You will be tested on this at the end of class.
It's easy to fall in love with a stock, especially one like AIG that treated investors so well over a period of decades. That's especially true if the stock happens to be that of your employer. There's something faintly disloyal about selling shares that made you lots of money once upon a time, or ones that help fund your paycheck. There's always that little thought in the back of your head: it will turn around. I just know it. It's a good company.
But investing is not for the sentimental. Set a price target for when you will sell, and stick with it. Better yet, have your broker put in place a good-till-cancelled stop-loss order that will automatically jettison the shares when they fall by a preset amount.
Lesson over. Class dismissed.
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The crisis in this country's banking and financial system is not just relegated to Wall St. fat cats. Nearly every dollar we earn goes through a bank in one way or another – we rely on banks to pay our mortgages and bills, to take out cash, to keep our savings ...read more | | |
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The world is watching as Washington votes. A second chance for the Bailout...will it pass? CNBC brings you live coverage from the Senate floor. "Wall Street in Crisis: Is Your Money Safe" Tonight 7p ET hosted by Larry Kudlow | |
| | 1. Nobel Laureate Solution 
Understanding the financial crisis and identifying the best solutions, with Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize Winner/Columbia University professor | | |
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