>> I am curious if part of that strategy should include "loading up" on those stocks when they tank (assuming one has cash at the time and the fundamentals have not changed), then when they regain former higher price ranges at or near ones original entry costs (one can hope, <gg>), selling the lots for which one paid "premium" prices (relatively speaking)breaking even on them with no tax consequences, but thereby considerably lowering one's cost per share.
What you are really asking is, should one be a pure Gorilla Gamer or can returns be enhanced by trading. I've tried, and I can testify that my Momo and Trader tendencies have mostly served to amuse me while reducing my overall returns. Those gorillas have a way of making a monkey out of me <gg>.
Most on this board are not pure Gorilla Gamers, Buckley being the notable exception, but it's worth noting that few can match his returns. Let me display Aunt Nancy's portfolio as anecdotal evidence of the power of patience coupled with GGing. She received an inheritance last year, and while she's allowed me to advise her on stock picking*, she's adopted a Merlinesque investing style of her own. Here's a list of her purchases and results thus far:
10/21 Price Purch. Cost Return
NTAP 148 5/8 8/5/99 13 3/16 1027.0%
NTAP 148 5/8 11/11/99 23 61/64 520.5%
QCOM 74 3/4 5/10/99 27 1/4 174.3%
QCOM 74 3/4 6/24/99 32 31/32 126.7%
QCOM 74 3/4 6/24/99 32 133.6%
GMST 70 10/4/99 42 27/32 63.4%
QQQ 86 5/16 8/10/99 53 1/2 61.3%
QQQ 86 5/16 9/27/99 61 4/73 41.4%
QQQ 86 5/16 9/27/99 61 3/16 41.1%
SEBL 113 1/10/00 42 19/32 165.3%
When you think about all the ups and downs a volatile stock like ntap has had, it's easy to think you might have traded them to advantage, but I have yet to hear of anyone who did so and beat Nancy's 14 month 11 bagger as a result.
You probably owe it to yourself to experiment, but I'd recommend you only trade a small portion of your portfolio until you have proven to yourself that you are gaining benefit from the increased risk.
uf
* Credit goes to Galahad for ntap, Merlin for sebl, NY Stew for gmst, and the thread's team effort for qcom. |
