Bernie,
I ran the numbers for VTSS from 9/2/94 to last nights close.
In September 1994, VTSS sold for a split adjusted price of $1.7083. If you had started an AIM account with $10,000 in 1994 using 50% cash, 10% BUY SAFE, 10% SELL SAFE, $1,000 minimum trade and 10 shares as minimum trade, then you would have ended the 5 year period with:
118 shares of VTSS worth $8247, $27,705 in cash for a total of $35,592
If instead you had put 100% of you nestegg in VTSS and not touched it for 5 years, you would own 5,854 shares of VTSS worth $409,032 almost a 10 fold increase in performance over 5 years by simply holding your breath and doing NOTHING.
Tom correctly identified VTSS around this same time period and I believe his returns are much better than the generic AIM that I ran, but I think this does illustrate that
a) These stocks can be found (Tom did, so why not you?)
b) Sometimes doing nothing is better than AIMing
c) Vealies are important to performance when you do try to AIM one of these high flyers.
d) Selling AIM shares too early in the uptrend of a high flyer will dramatically decrease your performance vs. Mr. Buy and Hold.
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Dave |
