Log In
Register
Home
Topic RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Email this4:37 pm
January 17, 2018
Offline
undersc0re said
I am still watching and reading tutorials, no hard decisions yet, banks are probably better than gold though lol. As for retail, not sure, something like dollarama or canadian tire seem stable.As a newer investor is it that bad to do tfsa, seems like some say I will fail and I won’t be able to claim the loss when it inevitably happens! I will take these suggestions and make a very careful final decision before investing, I plan on keeping it all in there to compound for about 15-16 years. I just want to get the tfsa going for now. A little scary doing a self directed tfsa with all that money, and a process to get it all going hopefully where I do not lose my shirt. I think I will be safe as long as i stay away from crypto currency and other unstable things that could go bust.
Or you can keep it simple by buying SPY which is what Warren Buffett would advise his wife to buy if he should pass on. SPY has great diversification with 500 stocks in 10 sectors much better than the TSX which is skewed towards wobbly financials, volatile energy and materials. The canadian equivalent for SPY is XSP which is an etf that is currency hedged. For 15-16 years hold you can even tackle a bear market!
7:30 pm
April 6, 2013
Offline
Loonie said
There are no real losses until you sell the stock or it goes belly-up. I think a horizon of 20-25 years is more realistic to avoid losses. on individual stocks. I know someone who bought a gold stock on broker's recommendation about 25 years ago or so and is still looking at a loss of about 80% (not including inflation) as the stock in question has not come back up yet. …
Unfortunately, there is a third possibility. I call it permanently impaired. Company hasn't gone belly-up. But, will be a walking zombie for a long time.
If a holding is down 80% and hasn't recovered in 25 years, there is little chance it will ever go up by 400% from its current value back to its original value.
Those who sold their Nortel shares at a 50% loss and reinvested in some diversified mutual funds would have easily doubled or tripled what was left of their money by now, over 15 years later. They would have recovered their 50% loss and then some.
In contrast, those who are still holding Nortel shares will be holding the now-worthless shares forever. 
9:40 pm
October 21, 2013
Offline
The gold stock in question has gone up 300% over the last couple of years or so. it was down to a penny stock. He doesn't see any point in selling it though. It will only be worth something if gold spikes dramatically. And that was the reason it was bought in the first place.
7:28 pm
April 6, 2013
Offline
If the gold stock is up 300% the last couple of years and is still 80% below purchase price, then I don't think there's much hope for breaking even.
That would require another 400% from the price now or 1,900% from the price couple of years ago!
12:59 am
October 21, 2013
Offline
That's the question.
But gold can be very volatile. Just think how bad he'd feel if it did go up another 400% and he'd sold it already.
I think I'll hold my tongue!
In any event, I think it illustrates why gold may not be te best thing for your TFSA.
9:06 am
April 6, 2013
Offline
That is something successful investors learn to deal with.
I sold my Nortel shares, that were butterflied out to BCE shareholders, at around $100. The shares continued to climb up to around $125.
Warren Buffet recounts an early experience with Cities Service shares during the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting this year. It is in the section from 47:00 to 52:00 in the 2018 BH annual meeting Yahoo Finance video.
It is actually not the individual shares that matter, but the portfolio the shares are part of. I don't have any regrets over the individual losers in my TFSA when the TFSA overall has about doubled over the years.
10:20 am
December 17, 2016
Offline
Loonie said
Just think how bad he'd feel if it did go up another 400% and he'd sold it already.In any event, I think it illustrates why gold may not be te best thing for your TFSA.
And that is the undoing of so many "smalltime" players in the market. The next step is usually a letter from your brokerage informing you that the stock is being delisted.
As Kenny Rogers croons -
"If you're gonna play the game, boy
You gotta learn to play it right
You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run"
----------------------------------------------------
The real problem for investors, over the past decade, is the efficiency of the money market and the inability of many of those same investors to react to the efficiency - which usually, but not always, results in being hung out to dry at the highs or being fleeced out as the market dives below their purchase price. Many aren't content with taking a NICE profit NOPE they're going for the home run and will ride it through the spike and then through to the valley believing it'll come back around, tomorrow.
Those who bought gold along the way to it's August 2011 high, and are now mired in a flat line 30% off that high for the past 7 years, will know what I mean.
3:27 pm
September 11, 2013
Offline
Know when to fold 'em, very true, and for the first time in decades I virtually completely exited the markets in mid-Jan/18. But I will say that over those decades, aside from my dividend blue chippers, I was in and out and generally very happy results with that approach, despite what the experts say about never folding 'em and always holding 'em - though I do understand that concept applies differently to speculative purchases vs blue chips, markets indexes, etc. However to have any chance at success at that you need to keep up with what's going on and it's very nice to not have to spend so much time with my money any more.
Please write your comments in the forum.