Jim, I note you appear to be obsessed with 'right' or 'wrong'.
My opinion is 'right' or 'wrong' is a gambling notion.
It will land on red or black, if it does what one calls then one is right if it doesn't then one is wrong. It is zero sum. Capitalism is not like that.
Corporate world is far more grey than right or wrong. I doubt you can deny that many companies take two steps forward and one step back, a myriad of competitive forces come to bear on a companies prospects of success. It is perfectly okay to have a view on a company, its strengths and weaknesses; it is perfectly okay to have the opposite view, that is capitalism.
However, it is too simple to say right/wrong. I'm certain most entrepreneurs and successful people would count losses as one of their most valuable assets. For it is through careful consideration, and rationale thought processes, that seeds are set for sustainable success.
Bottom line is, I find it crass to shout from the rooftops of 'I was right' or slump into despair 'I was wrong'. I think that only applies if one went into an investment with no clear thought process, and if one did then that is gambling and right or wrong comes into play.
I doubt you will have heard me ever talk about being right or wrong. If I buy tomorrow because of what I know and the SP rockets on good news then I would not boast. I have occasionally spoke of taking a profit but that is not boasting about making a right call about the company just an observation of market behaviour and making a speculative bet.
I have a sneaky suspicion that my experience in SGH will ultimately be the foundation of a sustainable above market return - not SGH but totality of all investments. Measured in years not a couple of bad years, and that lessons learned in how the market reacted to SGH will not be lost on me.
One might say, just don't make mistakes like SGH and you will get there quicker and with less stress. If some think that way I believe it is blinkered and faulty thinking - not to say deliberately lose money, more so in a competitive world one cannot make decisions that play out perfectly all the time. If one could then quickly another player would muscle in thus defeating the advantage. There is nothing like experiences to feed future strategies. Without those experiences, would one be as successful - measured over years - if went about merry way with a 'I'm perfect' attitude. I suspect not and one would come unstuck eventually, confidence bred from success is very dangerous when it comes to capital.
Right or wrong is redundant.
Discussion should be what have we learned from today that will make tomorrow much richer than it otherwise would have been!
Not ego, not anything, just common sense to focus on what is important.
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