Extremely Humble Carl,
You need not convince or convert me, I have been a believer for a long time. To reiterate a boring story, I am in INTC since 1989 (1st lot: $11-12, adjusted for 2 splits) and INTCW since March 1995 at $11.5 (adjusted for 1 split). Over the years I sold small fractions of my INTC?INTCW holdings primarily because they had exceeded my diversification guidelines (over 30% of my overall portfolio) and, of course, my stupidity at the time.
This week's Barron carries a wonderful book review on a new book entitled:
THE EDUCATION OF A SPECULATOR (Wiley & Sons)
by Victor Niederhoffer, long the top trader of Wall St wiz George Soros
I will just quote a short passage from this review:
"Stock trading, he concedes, can come a close second to outright gambling. On that score, he tells of a friend who lost everything in silver. By way of consolation, Niederhoffer ran all of this person's trades through his computer - posting buy decisions as sells and sell decisions as purchases. THE RESULT WAS THE SAME: a loss of everything. It wasn't the market that wiped out his friend's fortunes, but rather that the broker's and floor trader's cuts were too great. Hence the success of the buy-and-hold strategy exemplified by Warren Buffet."
By the way, the reviewer is James Coxon, managing director of Zurich Investment Management, owner of the Kemper Funds. Niederhoffer himself came from a rigorous academic background (Harvard, Berkely, etc) prior to becoming a trader.
Ibexx |
