Ann: Director Appointment/Resignation, page-156

May his motorcycles misfire and his helmets give him lice.

Truth is - and here's the rub - spec stocks are. a. gamble. All spec stocks. All the time.

No matter how much research you do, no matter who you talk to, you never, ever know the full story. Specs are also radically affected by sentiment and whim, often teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and to top it all, cheerleading by management is part of the game - if they can't drum up interest, they're doomed from the start.

The vast majority of specs fail. Sure things fail. Great ideas fail. Brilliant, world-changing products fail. All the damn time. Much as I've moaned about this particular one (partially, I'll admit, because it's kinda fun to moan let's be honest) my philosophy with spec is to only ever own one at a time, and never put more on a spec then you'd put on a horse (you'll notice I didn't use the word 'invest', because even if you think that's what you're doing, with spec you're not. You're gambling.)

I spend a bit of time looking around the HC boards at various spec stocks and the pattern is almost always the same. Up-ramping, cheerleading, yells of 'toot-toot' and 'get ready for lift-off', inevitable disappointment, talk of class actions and calls for scalps, while the disciples and the converted keep preaching the gospel (EVERY spec has them - the true believers. Poor devils.) followed by eventual loss of interest and delisting or permanent flatline.

The other big laugh is the 'Gates' or 'Musk' or 'Dr. Frankenstein' is investing in this one so it must be good! Here's the news flash - them there's squillionaires. For them to put a few bob into a good idea (because there are some really, really good ideas going that could change the world) is just pocket change. Often you do a bit of digging and realise they've put money into your preferred spec as well as all of its competition - because one of them is going to win, and the win will make up for the losses. But we just apply a bit of confirmation bias and pour more of our money into our chosen one, thinking we're following the smart money. Hmm.

On a brighter note, it's Friday. It's sunny where I am. I'm already drinking a gin. Hope you all have brilliant weekends, and GLTAH.