Matchless wrote:With an investment like Scottish Mortgage (or Bitcoin come to that) how does one determine when to crystallise ones gain? Because as we all know one only makes anything when one sells this sort of investment.
You have a choice of strategies, including: 1) guess the top and sell then, 2) decide maximum percentages for each asset (could be a blanked x% rule for all) and periodically trim those that exceed the limit, 3) decide a target price when you buy (probably time bound) and sell when that is reached, 4) if buying an IT at a discount, set a target lower discount
1) is probably sub-optimal,
3) and 4) imply some belief that there's an underlying reason why the targets will be achieved
2) can be used to manage risk for long term holdings by limiting the dominance of any one asset
It's also a good idea to have a strategy for what you do with the proceeds.