Greeting to all on the triage section of the porch:
I feel for eveyone on this porch having lost 2/3's of my worth in less then 2 weeks. This market can be cruel. I for one was counting on my recent gains to terminate my 20 years of practice in the face of managed care and the fustration that it has brought into my life. I have a young family which includes three children ages 9,4 and 2. I see their smiling faces and feel guilty that I let them down on my watch, having lost all of this money in so short a period of time. It's as if I am starting back from square one (with no assistance from practice because that does not generate any income or paychecks any more. Those days are gone. I was counting on using this to take care of my family. Now all I have to show for it is the end result of accumulated stress, hypertension, GERD and insomnia (hence my post at 5:45 AM).
A post mortum is in order.
We have all been betrayed by our vanities. We lost our perspective in how to preserve our capital. We held back on selling our positions while they were still profitable because we were afraid to take on additional short term capital gains. With hindsight this rationale is quite perverse. I did not follow my advice when I commented on the thread to V yesterday that I thought that in this market, investors (let's get realistic and call ourselves speculators)would not want to leave their money on the table as the weekend approached. My excuse was that I was flying down to Florida from NY and was incommunicato. But that is not the real reason. I was basing my hesatency not to sell based upon hope that things would turn around. In this type of market now, I don't really expect a quick snap back to the way it was two weeks ago. Too many people got burned (you too coonaz, thankfully, your OK). What I find distressing/angering is that in the past when there was a selloff of this magnatude, soothing words from talking heads referring to how this was overdone and that the ecconomy is still good and that growth is continuing were all squelched until 7:00 pm friday night. The damage was already done! There seems to have been a deliberate orchestration of limiting exposure to those commentators that this was truly overdone. Now with an incredable margin call that I don't think can be dodged or satisfied with selling covered calls alone, I have to go into survival/preservation mode. I think that we need to come up with some strategies, because many of us (including myself) don't know when to sell, nor do we have the discipline to sell at a predestined target. If anyone on the thread can post their opinions, that would be welcome.
I have grown to deeply appreciate the collection of humanity of this porch. You put up with my jokes and I have learned a lot from you, and love you all for it. For the most part, I did notice that for the most part, we were supportive and experienced limited flaming. I recall on the CPQ thread that there was more then their share of those condesending posters that loved digging into other people, especially when they were hurting and bleeding. To those out there that lack the basic decency of being supportive and empathetic, don't bother posting. Think of it this way. Your admitted to the hospital with serious ailment that has a high morbidity. You don't want to hear someone say "good, you deserved it because of your lifestyle, habits, etc...".
Now to try and get some rest...
I love you all,
David |
