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1 min read tips

Boxing Day for Your Portfolio

Boxing Day isn’t just for returning bad gifts—use it to return bad positions. Go line by line through your portfolio and ask: “If this were cash today, would I buy it right now?” If the answer’s no, it’s clutter, not an investment.
Shopping bag labeled “RETURN” filled with stock cards under text “RETURN BAD STOCKS.”
Return the bad stocks.

The day after Christmas, everyone suddenly remembers half the stuff they bought was impulse, not need. Returns, exchanges, “what was I thinking?” piles on the kitchen table.

Do the same thing with your portfolio.

Pick one simple question and run it down your holdings, name by name:

“If this position was cash today, would I buy it right now at this price?”

No stories. No nostalgia. No anchoring on what you paid.

If the honest answer is yes, it stays.
If the honest answer is no, ask why you’re still holding it:

  • “Waiting to get back to even” is not a reason.
  • “It used to be a winner” is not a reason.
  • “Everyone else owns it” is not a reason.

Those are just the portfolio version of keeping a dumb gadget because you feel bad returning it.

The point of a day-after-Christmas clean-up isn’t to scorch earth. It’s to:

  • Cut the positions that only survive on excuses.
  • Free up cash for names where the forward math actually works.
  • Reduce the mental noise so you’re not tracking 40 tickers you don’t really believe in.

You don’t need a spreadsheet or a new framework for this one. Just the same ruthless question you’d use on clutter:

“If I didn’t own it already, would I actually choose it today?”

If not, it doesn’t deserve space—on your shelf or in your portfolio.

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