3 Ways New Investors Get Apple Stock Wrong Angela Mae Watson Wed, October 7, 2026 at 1:00 PM EDT 3 min read AAPL +0.66% Trade Apple on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
The stock market has its dips, but historically, Apple (APPL) stock has done well for investors. As of Oct. 1, it traded for $330.32 — a nearly 30% yearly increase, according to Yahoo Finance. Take it back further to 2016, and the stock has gone up by a little over 1,063%.
As a new investor, you might be thinking Apple stock is the perfect buy. However, as with any other investment, it's not without risk. These are some of the most common mistakes investors make when buying stocks, according to financial advisors Ed Peagler and Xintian Wang.
As per J.P. Morgan, the general advice when it comes to stocks is to put no more than 10% to 20% of your total portfolio in one stock. Of course, when you see the numbers rising on a particular stock, it's easy to get excited and make investment choices based on that.
"Apple is a spectacular company that most people already know and love. It's no surprise, then, that many individuals end up with too large a position in their overall portfolio. And they don't feel like they have a high concentration stock because it's Apple. They trust it," said Xintian Wang, CPA, senior tax manager at Alexander Accountants, CPAs. "But high concentration is high concentration. And it amplifies the risk of an unsafe, underestimated stock."
Investing in Apple might be a good option for you depending on your overall portfolio and investment strategy. However, new investors don't always have a strategy. Sometimes, they're so eager to get the ball rolling on their investments that they simply invest without considering the bigger picture or long-term repercussions.
According to Wang, two of the most common traps that come with this, and especially with overly concentrating in one stock, are:
Performance chasing (buying when the stock is already high)
Not knowing your sell trigger from the get-go (so the holding runs)
"The solution isn't avoiding the stock. It's sizing it," Wang said. "Just like you would any other company, decide what percentage of your overall portfolio any single company can amount to and build the rest around it. A great company is not an investment strategy."
Ed Peagler, president and financial advisor at E.P. Wayne Financial Group, said a mistake he sees investors make is buying more stock after a particularly big run. This often happens because the investor thinks the stock is going to keep going, so they buy in hopes of getting high (and possibly quick) returns. This runs in line with not having individual limits.
The problem, Peagler said, is that this way of investing can easily become a habit.
"The company does well, the stock goes up, and suddenly a position that was supposed to be 5% of the portfolio is 15%," he said. "I'd set a limit on how much of any one stock you're willing to own around the time you buy it."
This way, you don't end up with too large a position in one company. Then, if the market does take a turn for the worse, you aren't risking as much as you would have with a higher concentration.
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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