Timing seems to kill most people. Most traders are too arrogant about the benefits of trading. Just look at MRVC. Buy and hold, and you go from 21 to 190 or whatever. Pay attention to it, and you're losing money or not gaining anything.
It's absolutely true that a collection of blue chip people like we can find here can help us educate ourselves do well. Far better than some cheesy guy publishing a newsletter on the coming boom in gold, or how to profit from the impending global depression. Who are these people?
And forget your broker!
I'm not pulling these conclusions out of thin air, of course. This is exactly what I had hoped to learn by doing these portfolio exercises. Had I plunked 50,000 real dollars on that initial portfolio and then spent a mere 25 months in a coma, I would have woken up with a portfolio worth somewhere around 500,000-600,000.
I doubt any trader would have held HUMC, MRVC, INSO, OTEX, IFM and so on, all the way through. There are just too many emotional and technical factors that tell you to exit. |
