The other day, I finally ripped the band-aid off and sold out of $T (+2.03%) and $VZ (+2.19%).
Although locking in some losses definitely stung a bit, I think the move is an overall improvement in the portfolio from a long-term perspective.
Plus, it freed up a few thousand dollars for me to reinvest in some of my other stocks, and I wasted no time in doing so—it was quite the shopping spree.
Here are the details from the sale:
AT&T ($T (+2.03%))
- Number of shares: 101.57 shares
- Average Cost Per Share: $21.60
- Sell Price: $17.20
- Market Return: -20.37%
- Total Return: -2.89%
Verizon ($VZ (+2.19%))
- Number of shares: 43.87 shares
- Average Cost Per Share: $51.40
- Sell Price: $40.49
- Market Return: -21.23%
- Total Return: -9.63%
All I can say is thank goodness for dividends. They substantially helped mitigate the overall impact of the losses, and although I violated Warren Buffett's #1 rule of investing—never lose money—at least it wasn't a catastrophic amount.
After the sale, I had around $3,500 to reinvest back into the portfolio, which I divvied up across 5 different stocks:
My aim in reinvesting was to avoid taking too many steps backward in my projected annual dividend income, which was challenging considering both $T (+2.03%) and $VZ (+2.19%) were two of the higher-yielding stocks in my portfolio.
However, I managed to make it work, and the end result was only a minor decrease in my projected annual income ($17 to be exact).
