Hold and it will come right ?

Looking at my portfolio today the shares that I have held the longest have been the worst performers. Why is this ?

My answer is that it is due to a change in investment strategy. This being a move more towards technical rather than fundamental analysis. My current portfolio consists of WAM,MHI,NPX,RYM,SKX,TTP,THL,STU and EBO. All other than THL,TTP and STU were purchased in the last 18 months. THL was puchased at 1.55 on 01.11.02 (yes 10 days before Sept 11) whilst TTP was puchased over 6 years ago.

With THL I felt that it would come right and it has (not sure if this was luck or what). TTP was a different story. Purchased in the high 80's I saw them reach 90 something and fall almost every day since. At 55c I sold a lot but still held all the way to 17c telling myself they were oversold. Perhaps they were at some point but today they are still only 38c and have not paid a dividend for 5 years.

I guess the lesson learnt is that a stop loss or break in trend would have seem me out of TTP years ago allowing funds to be invested in more profitable trades or at least allow some capital protection. During the tech boom I bought OTT at 99 and sold when they broke 90. They then carried on down all the way to zero.

Very interesting Noddy. My strategy is buy and hold (hope!) and basically it hasn't worked. I've owned shares for 25 years.If I did the sums I'm sure my money would have been better in the bank.

But not as interesting. I've learned a lot over the years. I'm now a Warren Buffet fan but haven't found any NZ companes which fit his criteria. No doubt they exist but it requires a lot of time to discover the information. I have a young family and really feel time should be invested in them.

My one great investment - ANZ, held since 1980 issue in NZ. Shares in lieu of dividend every time.

I had some bad experiences when I started investing about 2.5 years ago but have learned heaps since

A few very brief comments on what I have learnt

--- do your homework before making an investment , it is your hard earned money after all
--- be VERY wary of acting on tips from others
--- make use of "stop losses " my biggest losses were on WHS and AMP , at the time regarded as "blue chips "
--- be ruthless , get rid of the losers and re invest in winners Never be too proud to do this and never get too attached to a share , this is a sure recipe for disaster
--- keep yourself informed
--- When a share has reached its full potential sell , but this is easier said than done , probably one of the most difficult things to achieve
Moving your "stop loss " up as a share price rises can help but is not all that easy
---be patient , dont expect significant gains overnight
---dont give up , you will gain experience and confidence with time
--- monitor and re assess your portfolio frequently , at least about every month or two (I monitor mine every day , but then I trade most days )
--- search for underpriced shares , they are always there but not easy to find
--- invest in sectors that are having a good run but avoid investing too late in the cycle , this is probably the time to sell and move on to something else

These are a few comments that come to mind
I am sure that there are many others

Anyway , good investing