Why I held onto my GE stock. (and why I am glad I did)

Why I held onto my GE stock. (and why I am glad I did)
Originally published on Facebook 4/10/2015

We have owned GE since at least 2009 in most of our accounts. The stock has been stuck around $25 for almost 2 years now and there have been many occasions where a client or friend has tried to talk me into selling because "the stock isn't going anywhere."
I resisted the temptation to dump the company and here is why. I like the business. The world needs more and more electricity and most methods of generating electricity involve using a turbine. GE makes turbines for electricity and jet planes and anything else that uses a turbine engine. I also liked the dividend. I was happy to get paid 3.5% while I waited for the stock to go up.

But the biggest reason was the "Al Slotnick Rule". Al was an early client of mine at EF Hutton and one of the smartest investors I have ever met and he had a rule: "never sell anything." When you think about it, it is not a bad rule. Most investors hurt themselves by trading too frequently. They give up the huge compounded returns that can only be earned over years if not decades.
I will be honest, I break the Al Slotnick Rule from time to time. Last year I took a fairly large profit in Merck and the year before I did the same with Verizon. And, this year I took a loss on IBM. In each case I thought the money could be better invested and I DID NOT make the decision to sell lightly.
If you start out with a default rule that you will never sell you tend to be more selective when you buy something (a good thing) and you tend to think long and hard before you sell (another good thing).
Today, General Electric jumped over 11%. We think the stock will go higher. Patience is a virtue!