HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY THREAD!!!!
On 09/27/1997 at 11:03:00 AM, I posted LOGIY as the first thread pick. Too bad I didn’t just hold it, since Logitech (now LOGI) went on to be a ten-bagger and then some.
More than 55,000 posts later, the thread has carried on that tradition many times over. I started keeping track of the actual 50% gainer stocks in April 2002; since then the bell has rung 139 times, not bad for a dedicated bunch of amateurs.
;<)
A lot has happened in the markets since fall 1997 – an Asian crisis, a Russia crisis, the Long Term Capital Management meltdown, the tech bubble and bust, and a now a credit and housing bubble whose effects are still rippling out through the system.
But the 50% Gains portfolio racked up fairly steady profits, annualized at 29% from 1998 to the present. Along the way I managed to build a business and a new career that I really love most days. I certainly count myself lucky to work with my clients, and to be part of this group and the SI community.
I’ll take advantage of the special occasion to brag a bit about what we have done. Today, 50% Gains Investing is the only stock thread on SI with more than 1000 bookmarks from activated SI members. And even after ten years, we collected 31 new readers in the last 90 days.
The thread works well for very simple reasons. We have a strong consensus about what represents value (instead of hype). We also have a community of people willing to put aside a lot of the usual chat board antics and abuse to maintain a friendly and effective atmosphere.
Like most collective efforts, the whole is greater than the individual members who post here, myself included. I have learned a lot and spent many pleasurable hours in our little corner of SI. I hope others have too. Even though the names in the posting summary have changed somewhat since 1997, the new blood and familiar regulars always seem to mesh pretty well.
I had hoped to host a big gathering at my place for the tenth thread anniversary, but family obligations intervened. I still plan to have a thread party sometime in the future.
So let’s raise a toast to everyone who made “50% Gains Investing” what it is today, and here’s to the next ten years! |
