In early January 2025 my IRA was 80/20 equities/fixed income; with the equities being 100% S&P 500 index fund (VOO). At that time I took $20,000 in my IRA (3.5% of my portfolio) and bought a stock.
For the next 15 months, every time the stock gained \~$1,000, I would sell $1,000 of the stock and then put it back in VOO.
In the last 15 months:
• The stock has gone up \~44%.
• The S&P 500 index has gone up \~20%.
• I've sold a total of \~$7,000 of the stock, which was all subsequently reinvested back in VOO.
As a novice investor, I came up with this idea on my own 15 months ago. I believe it falls under the category of "Systematic profit-taking", or "Pruning/trimming stock gains incrementally over time."
As it turns out, so far, it looks like it was a good move. By buying the stock, I've made better use of that $20,000 in the last 15 months; versus having left the $20,000 in VOO. That's what the math is telling me anyway – a 44% gain, versus a 20% gain.
Was this in fact a good move? Am I looking at this right? Or am I missing something?
Long term goal is to continue taking incremental profits of $1,000 until I've regained my original $20,000 investment. At that point any additional gains going forward would be pure profit.