Been a long time, but things are good.
By the time I left PLAT to go to LGWX in late 1996, about all I did with PLAT stock was hold it in my 401k, and trade it a bit here and there in my personal account. Made a bit of money when PLAT gobbled LGWX up 18 months later, but most were unvested options that converted to PLAT. PLAT eventually plunged and my retirement plan got an unexpected boost when CA came along and bought the whole mess. Eventually made more money on my CA options, which converted from PLAT and LGWX to boot.
During the market craziness, and constant periods of acquisition/restructuring/uncertainty I managed to day, week, and month trade my way to just under $1M combined net worth in individual and retirement accounts by Feb/March of 2000. As I'm sure you realize, the 18-20 months that followed have not been good. Leverage is wonderful on the upside, but I don't have to tell you guys how it works to the downside as well. Made a fortune alone on the COMS/PALM IPO madness which in hindsight turned out to coincide with the exact market peak. My problem, like many others had, was I couldn't stay out of the market when it was correcting 25-50%! Even changing sectors didn't help, when all sectors I invested in were tanking.
It still amazes me that I lost 80%+ of my net worth, some guided by me but a large part invested in more conservative mutual funds run by managers making millions of dollars per year to lose the same percentages I managed to lose with leverage! LOL! But, I guess that is why they earn the big bucks.
Still alive, still in the game, and actually still with CA. They need people who know large numbers of the former PLAT and SSW products to keep sales alive and growing. They have been very good to me despite all the bashing the company tends to get.
Hope all is well with you my old friends, and I will be checking back in more often.
Regards,
Dave |
