GoKawiilCNBC's Jim Cramer on Wednesday offered investors a mental framework to make buying high-flying stocks easier to stomach.
"In a hot market ... you needed to have the discipline to pay up for great stocks to avoid missing out,'" the "Mad Money" host said.
Cramer described a lesson from earlier in his career, when a trader he worked with would "divide stocks by 10" to reframe their prices and make it easier to commit to high-momentum names. Using Bloom Energy as an example, he noted that a $230 stock can be thought of as $23, making it psychologically easier to pay a bit more to ensure you get in.
"Would it really kill you to pay $24 for a $23 stock?" he said. "The answer is no."
The insight comes as Cramer reflected on a wave of stocks tied to artificial intelligence and data center demand that he liked early in their rallies but didn't buy for the Charitable Trust, the portfolio used by the CNBC Investing Club.
The stocks of chipmakers Micron and Advanced Micro Devices and server maker Dell Technologies have surged as deep-pocketed investors aggressively bid for shares. These stocks are "the ones that got away," Cramer said, noting that relentless demand and large buy orders have kept many of these stocks moving higher without meaningful pullbacks.
At the core of his frustration is his own investing style. Cramer described himself as a "price-sensitive buyer" who prefers to wait for better entry points — a discipline that has served him well over decades but can be difficult in fast-moving, momentum-driven markets like the current one.
"I don't like to buy stocks that are running," he said. "Almost all these stocks run every day because the buyers are insatiable. Unlike me, there is no price they won't pay."
Cramer stressed that he isn't abandoning discipline entirely, nor is he recommending investors build a portfolio consisting of only momentum names. Instead, he suggested a more flexible approach of selectively applying this "must-own" mindset to a small number of high-conviction stocks, particularly when a stable interest rate backdrop is supporting the bull market.
"Here's the bottom line: if you want to buy these red-hots, don't be hesitant about it. As long as the bond market stays stable and you stay diversified, I think the red-hots can keep making you money."