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“Because if one company goes bankrupt, I’d only lose what I’d invested in that company.”
    â€œWhat if the whole sector plummets? Then you’ve lost everything,” Miller pointed out.
    Someone at the back of the class said, “What goes up must come down.”
    I thought about Diamond Tony. What goes up must come down. Made sense to me.
    â€œSo the key is to di-ver-si-fy,” Miller said slowly, and actually wrote it on the board. “Put your money in different areas of the economy. Let’s say you’ve put your money in five different sectors and all your stocks are doing well. What next?”
    â€œSell your stocks before the market goes down,” Adam answered from the second row. “I wouldn’t wait for things to go wrong.”
    â€œNo way, I’d let them ride,” Fatima said from the seat behind him.
    â€œWell, that is the question, isn’t it? That’s the thing about investing, my friends. Studies show that those wanting a quick buck don’t do as well as long-term investors. However, if your goal is to buy and hold, it takes nerves of steel. Your hundred thousand could be worth a quarter of a million or more—but only if you sell. And likely you won’t want to sell if your stocks are doing well. So what do you do?”
    â€œI’d watch the market and when something starts to go wrong, I’d cash out right away,” Kelvin said.
    â€œThat’s what most people would do,” Miller said. “The moment something scary happens—a popular stock dips, for example—people pull out. Of course, when everyone does that, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
    â€œSo what are you saying we should do?” Jessica frowned. “Leave the money in or take it out?”
    Man, Jessica was cute even when she was confused. I could tell she was taking the discussion seriously. I bet she planned to have a lot of money one day. That was another thing we had in common.
    â€œWhen to sell is the biggest question of all,” Miller said. “There is no right answer. If there were, no one would lose any money in the stock market.”
    No right answer. I rolled my eyes. What kind of mark would I get on a test if I wrote that?
    He put up his index finger. “There is something to consider, however. It’s called a stop-loss policy. You make a deal with yourself that once a stock has gone down a certain amount, say ten percent, you’ll sell.”
    â€œBut stocks drop all the time, then go back up,” Fatima said. “Why sell if you think it might go back up?”
    Miller spread his hands. “It’s all about risk. When a stock starts going down, the only way to guarantee you won’t lose more money is to sell.”
    â€œI wouldn’t sell my stock—I’d probably buy more,” Adam said. “Aren’t you supposed to buy low?”
    â€œYes. You are.”
    I made some more notes. This stuff was going to show up on a test, I could smell it.
    â€œDarren, could you summarize the discussion for us?” Miller asked, making me raise my head from the paper.
    â€œUm . . .”
    â€œTell us what you’ve written. You’ve been making notes, right?”
    All heads turned my way. Miller obviously thought I was doing something else, like writing rap lyrics, which he’d caught me doing a few times before. I glanced down at my notes and cleared my throat. No way I was going to look stupid in front of Jessica. “Investing rules. One—don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Two—don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched. And three—know when to cut and run.”
    To my surprise, Miller smiled. “Excellent summary, Darren. I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

HOMELAND
    O ver the next week, I did some creeping around the Cash Stop and snapped a few shots with my phone. Since Biggie worked across the