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Rule No. 17: Check Hope at the Door

Jim Cramer

03/29/05 - 08:27 AM EST

Editor's note: Jim Cramer's new book, Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World, is available in selected bookstores now. As a special bonus to RealMoney readers, we will be running Cramer's "Twenty-Five Rules of Investing." For more about the new book and to order it, click here. Today, we present Cramer's seventeenth rule of investing. Read more about his rules:

  1. Pigs Get Slaughtered
  2. It's OK to Pay the Taxes
  3. Don't Buy All at Once
  4. Buy Damaged Stocks
  5. Diversify to Control Risk
  6. Do Your Homework
  7. Don't Panic
  8. Buy Best-of-Breed
  9. Defend Some Stocks
  10. Don't Bet on Bad Stocks
  11. Don't Own Too Many Names
  12. Cash Is for Winners
  13. No Woulda, Shoulda, Couldas
  14. Expect Corrections
  15. Watch Bonds
  16. Don't Subsidize Losers

When I hear the word "hope," as in, "I hope General Motors(GM Quote - Cramer on GM - Stock Picks) will come back to $35 so I can sell it," I get furious. Always remember:

Hope is not part of the equation.

Don't "hope" for anything. Hope is emotion, pure and simple. And this is not a game of emotion, other than to take the other side of the desperate. Yet, I hear "hope" more than any other word, particularly with the contingent of Sun Microsystems(SUNW Quote - Cramer on SUNW - Stock Picks), Nortel(NT Quote - Cramer on NT - Stock Picks), Gateway(GTW Quote - Cramer on GTW - Stock Picks), Cisco(CSCO Quote - Cramer on CSCO - Stock Picks) and EMC(EMC Quote - Cramer on EMC - Stock Picks). Those stocks are filled with hopeful people betting that something good eventually will happen that will drive the stocks higher.

Hoping and praying are excellent things in religion. They are integral to sports. You know that the coaches of some of these come-from-behind NCAA men's basketball teams keep players motivated through hope.

But hope is a mistaken emotion in our business. It supplants reason, it supplants rigor -- especially when it comes to low-dollar-amount stocks.

No company ever set out to have a low-dollar-amount stock. The companies fight like heck not to have them. When they have them, it is a judgment rendered by the market that is harsh, difficult to accept and ultimately, far more right than wrong. When you suffuse your thinking with hope, you end up holding on for something that most likely will never occur. Cut your losses and move on.

Remember, we don't care where a stock has been, we care where it is going, and it is most likely headed down if you are hoping.

1. Pigs Get Slaughtered 2. It's OK to Pay the Taxes
3. Don't Buy All at Once 4. Buy Damaged Stocks
5. Diversify to Control Risk 6. Do Your Homework
7. Don't Panic 8. Buy Best-of-Breed
9. Defend Some Stocks 10. Don't Bet on Bad Stocks
11. Own Fewer Names 12. Cash Is for Winners
13. No Regrets 14. Expect Corrections
15. Know Bonds 16. Don't Subsidize Losers
17. No Room for Hope
Check back for more of Cramer's Rules