Remember USX has next to no rules, it's like the wild west gold rush, you could strike gold or go bust. But as Perky says, there's some solid companies and some with great growth potential, if you can stomach the illiquidity and minimal disclosure.
Remember USX has next to no rules, it's like the wild west gold rush, you could strike gold or go bust. But as Perky says, there's some solid companies and some with great growth potential, if you can stomach the illiquidity and minimal disclosure.
If you think about it, the one thing percy says over and over again is [paraphrased] 'do your research'.
One can't deny him the kudos for that as it is the most fundamental aspect of investing, truely understanding what you're putting your money into, and yet imo so few really bother to do it.
We are not buying or selling someone's opinion on an internet discussion group, we are putting our hard earned $ to work in some company that we believe in because we know enough to believe in it and that will make us handsome rewards as its' investors, or gets us out when it isn't doing what we expect it to do.
USX provides another vehicle to invest, but just that bit more challenging to understand as it requires so much less disclosure by the company, which makes understanding it that much more difficult. However it's not to be ignored, if you have the wherewithal to apply the fortitude in doing what percy says, know the company, decide, invest or not, stay the course, until it changes, then get out.
Is that a fair summary percy?
Yes.
Research,research and then a bit more research.
Look at it as though you are looking to buy the whole company.
I sometimes like comparing market cap.Say looking at three companies with a market cap of say $200 mil.Which one would I buy.Company,a,b,or c.
Which one does what they say they will do,which one has the least debt,which one has the best cash flow.
If I owned the whole company would I do what management are doing.Are the management honest,do they speak openly.
And I will add a bit to what BaaBaa pointed out.If you have it wrong get out straight away.ie if the reasons you brought in are no longer valid get out.
This is different from a business having a setback.All businesses have setbacks.ie Michael Hill has changed from a discounter to full "value" retailer.So "business model" no longer was working.New model not working either, so sell.Mainfreight got Europe wrong.Their business model was sound,so they fixed Europe.Hold.
Again buy a good company at a fair price,rather than a fair company at a good price.
There may be no rules, but any Limited Liability company still has to play the the rules of the Companies Act 1993 (don't quote me on the date). Plenty of protection in there for minority shareholders. But granted there will be no such things like having to have 2 independent directors, continuous disclosure etc. But sometimes I wonder if those companies on the NZX abide by those rules anyway. WYN, PEB etc spring to mind.
This post from Percy is one of may favorite posts on Share Trader. It tells me a lot about the man behind the post. It tells me he has no sense of entitlement and he has worked hard for what he has. It also tells me his values have not been changed by being a succesful investor. I also sense he is genuinely content with what he has achieved. He has also been very generous in sharing his investment ideas with us and he has been very helpful to newbies like me. Respect to you Percy :)