Posted: 5/8/2026 2:46:03 PM EDT
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So I know some basics about investing, in general, not much about day trading. So during COVID when stocks crashed I knew it was a good time to buy, so I put a bunch into some companies. I thought people would be playing a lot of PC games so I bought a ton of nvdia. The next time I looked at it was 2025, holy crap. So thinking I should take some profit I sold half and looked for another undervalued company. So I bought a ton of Intel. So my question is a tax one. If I think that stock is about 20% overvalued, is it smart to sell it now and have to pay all that tax or just ride it out for 10ish years before I need it? |
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Ultimately it just depends on what you think the future holds, both for the companies and your own tax situation. If it were me and I had a big position in NVDA right now I would be holding it. Big position in INTC I’d be trimming. If I had held INTC less than a year and wanted to push it out to long term capital gains I’d probably use covered calls to hedge the position / lock in the gain until the clock runs out. |
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You provided nowhere near enough detail to get any objective advice. Based on your post you are currently sitting on 10x profit on nvda and 3-4x on intel? You make investment decisions based on what you think the future holds, not how an investment has performed in the past. No stock climbs forever and history repeats itself... Recall sun microsystems - they were the hot thing just like nvda and intel. Sun went up more than 10x and then dropped to under 10% of peak all in well under a decade. At the time Sun was just like nvda and intel - mega computer company with hardware everywhere and people just knew they weren't going away. But they did - They were bought and delisted at under $10 per share after peaking around $250. Taxes suck, but paying taxes means you made a profit which is good. I would make a plan to sell a significant fraction in a manner than minimizes taxes and put the money elsewhere to get away from the risk of single stocks. Significant is relative... but 5 years in NVDA would've nearly doubled in an index fund, so I'd take out 2-3x your cost basis so that the time in nvda wasn't "wasted" (ie. you doubled/tripled your money and moved it into a safer investment, but still have lots of nvda left to hopefully ride it to the moon). |
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Originally Posted By Morgan321: You provided nowhere near enough detail to get any objective advice. Based on your post you are currently sitting on 10x profit on nvda and 3-4x on intel? You make investment decisions based on what you think the future holds, not how an investment has performed in the past. No stock climbs forever and history repeats itself... Recall sun microsystems - they were the hot thing just like nvda and intel. Sun went up more than 10x and then dropped to under 10% of peak all in well under a decade. At the time Sun was just like nvda and intel - mega computer company with hardware everywhere and people just knew they weren't going away. But they did - They were bought and delisted at under $10 per share after peaking around $250. Taxes suck, but paying taxes means you made a profit which is good. I would make a plan to sell a significant fraction in a manner than minimizes taxes and put the money elsewhere to get away from the risk of single stocks. Significant is relative... but 5 years in NVDA would've nearly doubled in an index fund, so I'd take out 2-3x your cost basis so that the time in nvda wasn't "wasted" (ie. you doubled/tripled your money and moved it into a safer investment, but still have lots of nvda left to hopefully ride it to the moon). I’m no investing expert but I think this is sound advice. |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
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Theodore Roosevelt
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This is an interesting thread. Time horizons and objectives with the money via investments or “trades” are not talked nearly enough. Another perspective, being a very long term investor, we’re always looking the account type first, such as bridge account for ages 51-59 or “rules” accounts 59.5+. Then we’ll be looking at the investment contributing to our target of 20% growth of total net worth. If it’s going to hit the marks sooner or later, that’s great we’ll hold. If not, we cut it loose. If an investment has boomed but too good to be true, we exit or try and steer clear (Enron) Or if their heyday has passed, we exit. Chevron and oil back in the 80’s and 90’s. But using “60% return” on one outlier of a stock is an extremely poor metric. The real metric (investors, not traders) should be daily growth of total net worth. This allows for real financial freedom versus “playing or ego driven”. (Now traders, that’s a completely different mindset, philosophy and objective) If my post helps 1 person with new ideas, that’s a win for me and them. An example of a titan that has crested and on the way down: https://www.ar15.com/forums/General/Article-Meta-Has-Entered-Its-Death-Spiral/5-2843902/ |
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Originally Posted By SkiandShoot: An example of a titan that has crested and on the way down: https://www.ar15.com/forums/General/Article-Meta-Has-Entered-Its-Death-Spiral/5-2843902/ A lot of dudes fail to understand that oftentimes the top 10 stocks in one decade underperform the index in subsequent decades and fall out of the top 10 in market-cap weighted indexes. There’s a spreadsheet/chart floating around the internet somewhere showing the top 10 (by weight) SP500 stocks by decade that does a good job of demonstrating this. So when I get the urge to buy a stock that’s in the top 10 of a good ETF, I buy the ETF instead. More tax efficient than buying (for example) Mag7 stocks and then having to sell them. Or a stock that has had a huge run. |
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So I looked up my purchase of Intel, it was last year in April, so I won't have to pay capital gains, so I sold it. Can't imagine I'll get lucky on my next buy, looking for companies that are doing poorly but still have a lot of capabilities. Kind of looking at the company's that make motherboards because they are going to horrible the next year or two but people will eventually need them again. Also looking at power generation companies because it looks like we'll need a ton more power in the next few years. |
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Aside from the times I was swing trading during the covid madness. Every, and I do mean every stock I've ever sold has been a regrettable decision for me in the long run. If you must trim the position I'd say pulling your original capital out is the minimum I'd consider. |