Even companies which have a bumper share tag after pleasing the City for many years are expected to shine on through the years. The strategy's proved to be safe so far, even though some of the world's biggest firms have been known to wobble. But it's a bit tedious if you do shares for fun as well as profit. The happiest follower, it seems to me, is someone how's not all fascinated by moods and swings and just wants to make money from shares in a comparatively secure way. There are several instances when their share values have taken a drubbing, and recovery of it's started at all, has been painfully slow.
Blue chips can burn in the pan, too.
A variation of the longest play policy is to hold your shares for a long, long time in essence, but to nip in and out of the market when they start bouncing around a bit. Not so long ago, a high street bank, which had been rising gradually for years, suddenly put on a spurt, picking up 25 per cent in five weeks. A natural reaction would be to rejoice momentarily, then leave the shares to continue their usual humdrum, unspectacular climb. But it might be better to regard that sudden burst as being highly vulnerable to a nasty correction, sell the stock for a nice profit, then buy it back when, hopefully, they have subsided a bit. This way you stick to the much-adored long haul system in principle, while still making the odd few pounds from dashing in and out the market according to its peaks and troughs.