Thanks TJ for the historical references. SI is wonderful. We can go back in history to see what we really wrote and thought, unfiltered by faulty memory. You have got a slight glitch in your figures there because the QCOM price you quoted is not split adjusted. Here are the correct figures and you'll see that on that date, the price was about $30 a share after taking a drubbing from on high over the previous year and a bit. finance.yahoo.com
I am not so bloody-minded that I won't change my position on a dime and you will recall that I bailed out in a major way not long later, to avoid what seemed likely to be a painfully deep valley which I did not wish traverse with gonads exposed in Commando attire. That rapid retreat saved my bacon. I was well aware that SI provides all sorts of ideas which are often with adopting, in part at least, temporarily perhaps.
So, compared with that particular date, QCOM has indeed halved in gold measurement. But I did not have to pay capital gains taxes, which would have been even more painful. Plus I did collect some dividends, being tasty morsels of Happy Meal proportions. QCOM price is still at the same price in US$, split adjusted.
I have also had a lot of fun with QCOM. Gold buried under the tiles of our patio would not be so thrilling. I'd have had to keep digging them up to make sure they were still there. Plus there is a horrid gap between buy price and sell price [when I went and viewed lumps of gold in Grafton Road not long later at Johnston Matthey's premises].
Do I see the truth now? I pursue the matter assiduously and find out AFTER the events at issue whether I have found the truth or not. Mostly, I have a very good record, though in recent years I find I have got somewhat sloppy after decades of doing happily [perhaps resting on laurels with too many nausages with a bit of Devil may Care attitude - which has been tightened up in recent times after some market punishment back then, which is good for the soul.]
I notice that you did not deign to answer my question about how you have done this year with your $200 oil positions, and all that stuff. I'm about all square in NZ$ [grocery and lifestyle currency] or somewhat ahead from January to December. That's not bad going.
I am luckier than you because QCOM has fallen further than gold, meaning further buys will be at a greater discount than yours of gold. That decline was not accompanied by any reduction in revenue or profits which continue to grow rapidly because everyone needs mobile cyberspace whether they know it yet or not.
Tarken-san converted substantial profits from shorting various financial stocks during 2008 to QCOM at the heavily discounted price. We should be grateful for such discounts. I didn't follow his lead, but of course should have done [shorting the financials]. It has been fascinating to watch over a couple of years as everything went down in slow motion until the sudden recognition in September this year that this was serious and for real.
Going shopping for a house in California 3 years ago showed me just how over-priced housing was. It seemed to need to halve just to be semi-sensible, with everything going right. With everything going wrong, I'm not sure that I would pay even half the 2006 price!
Gold has certainly become very popular. Maybe I'll buy a bundle of coins, putting them in a roll to use as weights [following your suggestion].
Gung Ho,
Mqurice |
