I managed to turn $60,000 into $30,000 by diving in and out of stocks that I knew virtually nothing about. I bought Elcom Inc. (ELCO, for those who want to torture yourselves), a dog if there ever was one, based upon an article in the New York Times that said that it had something to do with using the internet to purchase groceries (as it turned out, it had a small stake in a company that did that, which it later sold; Elco is a mostly a computer reseller, and a bad one at that).
I bought Transcoastal Marine (TCMS), based totally upon an impressive post on the Elco Yahoo thread and cheerleading predictions from an aptly-named poster named "Sly Coyote" who forecast glory for all. I bought it at 12 1/2, and finally sold at 4 1/2.
I made other ridiculous purchases, but have repressed them so far I can't retrieve them. The only good news is that I also bought E*Trade (EGRP) at 25, it's now pre-split at 92, I bought NTKI (Music Blvd) at 5.5, it's now at 13 or so, and I bought Wave Systems (WAVX) at 4, and it's now over 10. This is my entire portfolio (risky, huh), which is now worth around $150,000, so there is hope for all of us. The main lessons I learned were:
1. Don't make purchases based on intelligent-seeming posts on stock threads.
2. Buy good companies and hold them.
3. Buy what you know. I use E*Trade and like it very much, and believe that online trading represents the future. I buy a lot of CDs from Music Blvd., and like the ease of shopping over the internet, and believe that Wave may well be the next big thing (check out the WAVX board on SI or RB).
Anyway, that's my story. I think this is a therapeutic exercise--I hope this thread gets some attention from others. |
