Some valuable lessons have indeed been learnt. At one stage on the BBI thread it was claimed by some that diversification was a "hedge for the ignorant". However I was one who lost heavily on BBI and I can't sing the praises of diversification loudly enough.
With the proceeds of the sale of my shares in BBI and other BNB satellites I was able to ride the likes of IIF, MCW, MOF, LLP and others from their lows and sell out of them when they reached their highs recording significant profits to help recover some of my losses, the proceeds of which have since been re-invested elsewhere and as a result I am sitting on a heavily diversified and much lower-risk portfolio that is worth, in terms of portfolio value, a significant multiple of what a continued holding in BBI and other BNB satellites would currently be worth if I had continued to hold them.
The stocks in my portfolio have a lot of upside and the risk is very well spread, so for all the money I lost on BBI I have at least come out wiser and I am sure I will benefit long-term from what was a nerve-wracking,very stressful and negative experience for me at the time. If this experience has taught me anything it is that diversification, far from being a "hedge for the ignorant", is quite the opposite and given the diversification of my portfolio these days I can look forward to the future rather than dread it.
BBI Price at posting:
3.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
