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.