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Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Trader who wrote (22924)	4/18/2000 1:44:00 PM
From: Riskmgmt	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 54805

Hey Tom: My past catching up with me! The wager (one made in the spirit of fun) was never about the nets being a fad -- it was about prices on certain internets which had run up a lot being lower 12 months later. But you are right that I lost the wager and that those internet stocks were a lot higher a year later. Yes, That was it, I remember now. A tasty cake bet. <gg> Are you still on the East Coast or back in California? Judy can confirm -- since I told her about it at the time I went long -- that I bought AMAT at around $13+, ORCL at $11 and a few others when they were close to rock bottom -- and I still am long these stocks. CSCO -- one that Judy specifically urged me to buy several years ago at a fraction of the price it is today, I still own. Yes, Judy is great, sure miss her postings and her 2 by 4. Judy must have made fortunes, couldn't happen to a nicer person. This go around, if prices drop sufficiently and when things look their worst, I assure you that I shall be buying some of the quality stocks that this thread has identified. In fact, to show you how I feel about this decline, I shall be adding funds today to two trust accounts with a view to buying some of these stocks in the very near future. Well, if you did ,they are looking good right now. Didn't intend to challenge you. I commented on your post because it seems when prices drop the tendency for most people is to let fear and emotions take over reasoning, just as Mike outlined. Over the 3 or 4 years of reading SI I have noticed certain tendencies during big sell offs, 1. Regret at not selling earlier (higher) as your report noted. 2. Arguments over real values of the stock or market, or both. 3. Comparisons to the past, especially 1929 etc. 4. Discussions over the folly of margin use. 5. Lowered expectations. Usually triggering a desire to sell as soon as the stock hits some number. Reasoning or rational is, to get off margin, or to reduce margin because margin is bad), to get even or take profits(because I realize that I was too greedy before and will not make that mistake again) These are just observations that I have made and I am not saying they are invalid. What I am saying is that, if you buy a stock at $200 because after DD you think it is a company whose stock is priced such that you have a good investment. And the share price drops with no changes in the company fundamentals, why should your views and or action plan change. But they do, for most people-except perhaps Mike Buckley (VBG). Margin is but a tool, like options or futures. If you don't like them and they are not part of your plan, fine. But if you like and use them sometimes and hate them other times, depending on the market ups and downs, then you are putting charge of your financial decisions to Mr Market. One of the uses of margin, often overlooked, is that the interest is tax deductible against investment income. Also, it gives leverage a two edged sword. Enough from me back to work, regards, Ray