Easy Options

MARKETS ARE ON FIRE, BUT IF YOU'RE NERVOUS ABOUT SCORCHING RETURNS SLIPPING AWAY, HERE'S HOW TO PROTECT YOUR BIG GAINS.

- JOHN DOBOSZ

Wizards of wealth creation like Warren Buffett counsel that the key to stock market success is to buy into a great business, sit back and let it make you rich. It's sound advice, but even people as patient as Buffett sell stocks from time to time, as Berkshire Hathaway did in 2024, trimming stakes in big gainers like Apple and Bank of America, and completely ditching other stocks like Snowflake.

If you've been holding Nvidia or other "magnificent seven" tech stocks for the past couple years, you might feel a bit like Buffett yourself lately. The Nasdaq 100 has almost doubled since this bull market began two years ago, and got a bump higher in the wake of Donald Trump's election victory. Many investors are sitting on big gains, pondering whether to stay the course or sell to lock in profits. The question is not a binary one, because you can employ several strategies that allow you to do both.