People talk about “just holding” like it’s the default, passive option in investing. Like once you’ve bought something, doing nothing is the neutral state.
But that never really made sense to me.
If you own a stock today, you’re implicitly choosing *not* to sell it and put that money somewhere else. That’s still a decision. And it’s one you’re effectively re-making every day the market is open.
In that sense, holding isn’t passive at all. It just *feels* passive because there’s no action required.
I think this is where a lot of portfolios quietly drift. Positions stick around not because they’re still the best use of capital, but because they’ve faded into the background. No trigger to re-evaluate, so they just… stay.
A question I’ve been trying to ask myself more is:
“If I didn’t already own this, would I buy it today at this price?”
If the answer is no, then what exactly am I doing holding it?
Curious how others think about this. Do you treat holding as an active decision, or more of a default state?