My best investment, by far, by very far, has simply been to identify something that is going to grow steadily and pay out large returns over a long period of time. Specifically, I mean Canadian Oil Sands Trust. I completely ignored short term movements, chart patterns, etc. And I now have an investment that is worth eight times or more what I paid for it and which provides about 40% of my current income. And this is just over a five-year span.
I think the next big long term thing may (just may!) be the Uranium closed end fund that trades on the TSE but also can be bought as pink sheets. They have just suspended current dividends because of the faltering uranium market, but would restore them if it recovered.
There is no record in the literature of investing that shows that short term, "technical-analysis" based, speculation has ever made anyone permanently rich. There will be short term successes and temporary triumphs. But this kind of entertainment is not the road to enduring wealth.
The one area where short term (long, not short) speculation may pay off is commodity-based instruments such as DBA, PCRDX, and so on. Commodities (those stocks, NOT futures trading) may profit from inflation and shortages. |
