survey how much money has everyone lost, page-29

For those that buy the likes of WMT,UNX, etc take head if you think that they are long term investments.

In 1978 I thought a stock called Offshore Oil was my ticket to early retirement. I put in $25,000 by 1980 (roughly the price of a house at that time) and had hung on through the down turn of the early 1980's and in August 1987 Offshore Oil (after many share splits & consolidations) the price was at a stage where I could get most of my $25,000 back but I was determined to hang in there as they had the Puffin oil fields and another oil field further towards Timor and a huge gas field (most assets were shared with Santos). After the 1987 crash my 100,000 shares were worth $2,000 but I still hung in and in the late 1980's they were consolidated and renamed Petroz Oil and I had about 5,000 shares. In the early 1990's they raised more money to which I contributed bring my total stake up to about 11,100 shares with the investment over this time of another $7000 or $8,000 still I hung in knowing that they had good assets but in 2001 ConocoPhillips also thought they had good assets and made a takeover @ $.70 a share and what shares were not compulsory acquired are delisted. I did not even get any satisfaction that my money help to bring the project to fruition.

I got $8,700 back little more than I had invested in the later stages before the takeover, the $25,000 (in 1979 $) was lost and not able to be claimed as a tax loss.

The moral of this is DON'T FALL IN LOVE WITH A STOCK it cost me a potential fortune which could have assisted to increase my profits in the recent property cycle and probably a few before that.

Even though it was my capital that help discovery the vast gas & oil reserves the pay day did not come to me. These fields are the backbone of the LNG exports from Darwin.

Stocks are a means of increasing your wealth set limits to your losses and take them when needed and take profits when needed.