I don’t know any investor who puts 100% of their money into a single stock, nor any who lack recurring cash flow to buy more of what they already own. While their 2000 purchase may not have realized any gains, they’re likely ahead thanks to dollar cost averaging and dividend payouts.
This was super common in the dotcom era because day traders were hanging around the same message boards creating what we now call meme stocks. Many of them had to lock in those loses when they hit the financial crunch of the dotcom crash or the later real-estate bubble.
I had a cautionary example from some sales guys I worked with, who got caught up in margin calls – one burned the wedding money his wife had ear-marked for a house. I had avoided stocks like Cisco with wild P/E ratios and my portfolio made good returns throughout this period because it was diversified, but if I’d been willing to bet higher on Apple I would’ve retired early so I appreciate the allure.
If you're in any of these categories, especially retired, you're most likely invested in mutual funds or ETFs of which Cisco probably makes up a very small fraction.
The key difference between a speculator and an investor lies in their financial goals, not the number of stocks they hold. A speculator seeks short-term profits, often through high-risk trades, while an investor focuses on building long-term wealth through, steady, strategic investments.
