Cisco and Starbucks have become trades as I could not get the second part of the money into the stocks (CSCO and SBUX) as they continued to rise during the current/recent bear market. For individual stocks I will not buy 2-3% above my cost basis as a safety in case something goes wrong and I need to get out of a position. I will probably take profits from SBUX and CSCO in the near future as I do not maneuver in a way to simply avoid the tax man when a nice percentage gain is on the table.
However, I did put the second half of the money into Apple, GNC, and JP Morgan as those stocks have not taken off enough to become a trade instead of an investment.
I will add to the VOO (s&p 500) and VTI (total market) tomorrow as dollar cost average and the nature of the diversification protects me when I buy above my cost basis in comparison to individual stocks. Those indexes are my benchmark for success as outpacing them validates my portfolio of individual stocks.
