In most cases, you want to buy a fund and keep it as long as you can, however, there are moments when you reach a decision to sell the fund shares. I would like to give you several tips of what you need to avoid when you think it’s time to sell.

• Do not rush and sell fund when it’s ranking goes down. Take a deep breath, relax, sit down and do some research. The rating may just reflect the performance of the entire class of the assets in fund’s portfolio. Check if the related industry’s performance is slowing down due to some factors. If that the type of the assets you are really interested, pay no attention to such small fluctuations.
• If you have a diversified stock fund (not a strict industry sector fund, which holds assets only from one industry) do not sell it if you think it’s about to end a hot streak. A diversified stock fund should be a long-term hold.
• Do not apply (single) stock trading strategies to mutual funds. Mutual funds do not peak and go down the same way as stocks, the best strategy for funds is buy and hold. However, it’s not that simple, keep an eye on the fund covered industries.
• Do not sell when whole market declines, expect it to move up and down.
• And the last, the most important tip: do not sell on impulse. If you think you are disappointed in one of your funds, do some research first. What if the fund’s manager just had a short streak of bad luck? Compare long-term fund returns with other funds in the same category.

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