Because AOL is my nemises, and "if I had, I'd bee rich and free right now", it gave me a great learing experience. Also let me realize that
considering the events that took place, there was little chance that
I would have stayed in AOL throught thick and thin. I mean, when the lawsuits came in and AOL fell from $80 to $20, how many folks would have stayed the course and waited it out. Especially when they already had enormous profits. If they finally sold on the bloody fall, how much chance would they have gotten back in, when you consider all the cheering of the shorts on the chat line, "I told you all AOL was smoke and mirrors and a scam"!!!! and other words of wisdom. Most probably would have moved on. But again, as Buffet said, stay the course if you like the concept, the management is good, etc. etc. I think COKE got hit also, with the new coke fiasco. But with AOL again, the rational person would have maybe thought, "well, its tough now, but they just have to beef up their modems and it will take care of the freeze ups." And thats what they did. But when you're in the midst of it all, its a lot harder to watch your profits slip away, and stay the course.
And also a lot harder to get back in if you sold on a crash. You would
have had to have had a vision, or just be one of those lucky clueless
folks that buy and hold as a philosopyy, and don't worry about the short term fluctuations. |
