Wishing to respect @1ronnie's wishes for no commentary I had the idea to create this thread for people including myself to comment on here and leave his thread be.
Regulars should have no problem with this.
Accordingly, my last comment there was to acknowledge his great effort in both avoiding trouble and also profiting from the trouble.
Perhaps his greatest achievement was getting his wife to change.....
My approach to the trouble is to insist on companies with no net debt and fantastically growing earnings with the ability to pay dividends down the road if not sooner. I am not selling my OCC, NEU or MSB shares for this reason. All of those bought at a range of prices. I argue that selling means I create a 40% loss anyway as that 40% has to be shared with the tax man and I foresee prices being much higher down the road due to the greater earnings then. I can live with temporary falls meanwhile. I have other sources of income and other shares - many liquidated already or at NIL cost being free carried.
I will add to my NEU, OCC and MSB shares but am in no hurry - more falls to come unless out of left field events happen such as take overs or big partnerships. These are distinct possibilities and if you don't hold you are locked out.
One of the things I really like that @1ronnie mentions is that doing nothing is doing something. Too many people fall for the widely broadcast 'just by the index and forget it forever' spiels. Now in terms of 30 plus year time periods this may be quite okay for the economically illiterate as they can't do better than the index, but they are sitting ducks for smaller time periods.
One thing Trump has gotten right is that there will be created real opportunities to get rich. Big falls from companies that succeed in the future multiply gains for those that buy at the lows. This is also why sometimes you really do need to do something and act upon what you see; before the crowd wises up.
Meanwhile look up your pannikin recipes - you may need them.
