General discussion, page-4616

Long term investing isn't your thing then. Chopping and changing between stocks is a sure fire way to lose money over time, unless you have a crystal ball and can time the market perfectly. I am yet to know of someone capable of this (short of insider traders). Stocks get less riskier as they fall, and more riskier as they rise. At $13.30, you would have been rejoicing at the thought of getting the stock at $11.70 at that point in time which would have been $1.60 profit in your eyes. You wouldn't bat an eyelid to get more. Sprinkle in a few down days and human psychology has you thinking that you made a terrible investment (in that intervening period) while other stocks, crypto etc are on the march.

The reality is that the fundamentals have not changed. The story has not changed. The stock price will not follow a linear trajectory, it will be more akin to a random walk. I'm sure you are aware of Peter Lynch. In his wisdom he says; people are great investors in property because they acquire it and then don't sell it for a very long time. Whereas with stocks there is a tendency to sell one at the slightest show of price weakness and often at a loss. Only to come back and buy it more expensive later. Another fellow you may know is Warren Buffet. And he advocates that if you bought a property at x and someone was shouting prices at you every day to try and get you to sell, you'd get annoyed pretty quickly. So why is it that people are quick to sell when a stock is quoted at a lower price?

The fact is that we have all done our DD (I hope) and this has led us to invest here. A longer time horizon will reward the patient holders. Remember that you are buying a piece of a company and your return will be dictated by the substance of that company. The market is merely a vehicle that sets prices. If your favourite dessert goes on sale at Woolies or Coles you will be delighted, so if you liked the stock when it was roaring to 13.30 last week, you sure as hell should like it more that its $11.70 now. Of course we all want a high double figure SP or even triple digits right now. Time is money, but if the market worked like that, it wouldn't be fun and there would be too many millionaires, in which case being a millionaire would have far less value. Lynch also provides a very good breakdown of the types of companies that exist. In my opinion, as the company isn't earning any money, it is an asset play. And asset plays require the most patience of all (his words, not mine), as they often trade below value for long periods, until the market eventually re-rates them.

This is not investment advice, but perhaps sit down and consider what your risk tolerance and time horizon is regarding WA1. If the wild price swings are keeping you up at night, then you will be more suited to an ETF or blue chip stocks which will give you more predictable returns. If you can stomach what is happening here, without ruing the opportunity cost, then buckle up as we are in for a ride if this goes to where we think it should.

All the best.