when to dump?, page-21

You should have been a little braver and bought into the most over sold sector while fear was rife. It was only a matter of when, not if, the financials would recover. Thing is, if the market pulls back hard again will you do what you intend to do, and that is to buy in? Or will your opinion change in the negative sentiment and make you sit and wait as you did last time?
I looked at it like this:
The banks fell 50% plus.
Everyone was an expert and said 'never buy financials, but buy into gold and energy'.
With inflation on the cards, a sudden devaluation of the dollar could send most assets up, including shares. Banks being the most oversold would offer the best recovery.
The share market cannot continue to go down forever without intervention and a recovery otherwise the global financial system would stall and literally implode.
Any kind of recovery in the economy would be felt in the banking system first as excess cash flows would be pooled into the banks, with those in the know buying up.
The lowest interest rates ever seen globally would force many scared investors to overcome fear and to seek riskier avenues with high yields.

After all that, I didn't do what I intended to do either. I intended to buy into MQG and NAB once they crept over $20, with stop losses set at around 19.44. I didn't act on that as I was more than comfortable having only a quarter of my cash in shares.

I don't think there's anyone out there who doesn't regret buying up more when stocks were real cheap. With hind site we can all see the obvious that we were blind to. Those who did buy up big may have faced the harsh reality of buying in too early and then being forced to sell out at a huge loss.
Slow accumulation is what I believe the key. I bought into CBA in December, RIO in January, and WPL in February. There were times where I questioned my moves, but I didn't do what the pundits say and use stop losses. Having only a quarter of my cash in shares increased my appetite for risk, giving me the comfort to sit tight on these almighty oversold stocks. I didn't use stop losses as I had faith in these top 20 stocks as they're the target of the so called 'astute investors'.
I went wrong in buying into 2 midcap stocks, which were both stopped out with the stop losses. Of course, these stocks are now much higher than when I sold them.
I am both a winner and looser.