starting a small portfolio - thoughts?, page-17

Red why should he expect to lose the lot? If he has a portfolio of 5 or more stocks it would be very bad luck if they all collapsed to zero. I would guess that unless there is an extraordinary circumstance that a novice who was reasonably intelligent, patient, and diversified has a downside of 20%=30%. You learn on the job from mistakes or providence. He has already made a decision to spread his risk among 4 to 6 stocks. I am not a fan of stop loses but he is probably aware of the concept, being in the market for a few years. Presumambly he knows to reconsider his holdings when fundamentals change. I have been in the market since late 2008 I knew no more than tenderwarrior when I started, to date I havent lost anything I am well a head. It could well be I will lose a lot in the future, hopefully if that happens I can recover my loss in time, who knows. Something I believe from my limited experience in what has been a good market is to study the stock if you are convinced of its value buy and then hold until you no longer believe it has value. Anticipate it could easily sell for less than you paid for prolonged periods. Everything takes 3 or 4 times as long to happen as what you guess or are told.
Red some suggestions on how he should manage risk or some anecdotes based on your experience or knowledge that demonstrates the risk would in my opinion be more helpful than saying he can expect to lose everything.