Hi sf120,I totally agree with your advice to diversify however i...

Hi sf120,

I totally agree with your advice to diversify however i think you either misunderstood my post or I may have given the wrong impression.

First of all I shared my own experience and a sentence that rang true with me. I was not asking people not to diversify or invest in penny stocks.

I did not become a top 20 SH in 2016... I only became a top 20 SH early this year. My first purchase in AGY was about $5000 in 2016 (far less than 5% of my portfolio at the time). The bulk of my purchases happened in 2019, 2020 and 2021. My average is about 11 cents. So I did progress over 6 years and as the company reached milestones, ticked boxes and de-risked. It was a journey and my conviction grew as the company achieved these milestones.

While AGY being a penny stock in 2016 may have been true, I do not classify it as a penny stock in the past couple of years. Tesla (I'm not comparing AGY with Tesla, but the insight from the story)... Tesla listed in June 2010 for $17... by the end of 2020, it was worth more than the next 5 biggest Car companies combined. One would argue that it was a semi penny stock, with a sometimes and unpredictable but visionary Chaotic leader, at times the company was on the brink with high cash burn, large debt, and ongoing teething problems, but for the ones that saw, understood and believed in the vision, it was a worthwhile risk to take.

I understand the impression i gave that i only hold AGY when i re read what i posted. I have not held one stock ever apart from the first stock i bought in 1998 (ANZ). My portfolio has always been diversified. AGY only became a major part in my portfolio in the past 3 years and is currently just over 60% of my portfolio. I own and have owned other stocks in Cobalt, other lithium and RE, Biotechnology... Matter of fact, I would be close to being a top 20 in another Cobalt Junior with great potential. I believe in it, and I'm happy to take that risk, having seen enough evidence along the way to convince me of the potential and timeline. This other stock was probably in the penny stock category just over 2 years ago with a market share of less than $20 million.... I do not believe it is a penny stock now.

The point i was making and again, i stress it is my experience, is that once I have been on a journey and have read the reports, assessed the opportunity, and reached a conclusion about the stock that I am convinced about, I do back myself up.

When i reflect on my own journey, I have been both a trader and a long term investor. I have made and lost money in both types. but the real money i made has almost always been while i was an investor with conviction. (I'm not saying it is better or worse, the reality is it always depends on the person and their particular circumstances). Every 4-5 years, I end up making good money on Stocks that i become heavily invested in. For example, I bought QAN in 2013 for about $2.50. Despite great promise, QAN shares kept sliding till $1.25.... I kept buying in till I had a sizeable holdings....3 years later, QAN reached $6, and that was the first time i made more than a million dollars on a stock. These are the opportunities that allowed me to reach the point where I am today. Most years, I may be a little up or down, but it is those leaps every 4-5 years that made a real difference for me.

Again, I totally and 100% agree with you on the diversification to reduce the risk. But I stand by my tried and tested (for me personally) approach.

Thanks for a respectful and informative reply, and good luck.