Well done mate. What a great kick start for a young couple / family.
My story is not dissimilar. I now have a PhD is "what NOT to do" by owning Lithium shares for the last 4 or so years.
I started with a modest holding of GXY and AJM and only a few PLS. A lot of SYA and AUZ at high prices also. They all kept going up and my research in 2017 / 2018 suggested EV's would be huge and a lot of Lithium needed. So I just kept on buying and actually averaging up.
I went in a little heavy, about $250-$300K in purchases as it just kept on going. Before I knew it, I was up $300K!!.
But this was all within the space of about 9 or 10 months. I said to my wife - "will $150K change our lives?" as I would lose half the profits in Tax. We decided it wouldn't and so I decided to hold for at least a few more months to get the CGT discount. Great plan!!
You know what comes next!!.
Everything crashed. GXY at $3 was a "bargain. At $2 it was "Silly". AJM at 25 cents was a "Gift". at 10 cents it was "free money"". PLS at 50 cents looked good. Etc etc etc.
I bought way too many on the way down, too early. When they got towards the bottom I was $400K down!! with about $550 - $600K in total purchases. It was scary stuff. I felt sick. I had "lost"a $250K inheritance on paper plus a heap of my mortgage offset funds. My wife was pissed!! I had extremely dark thoughts. I had totally fu$%#d my families future or so I thought. I prepared myself to work until I'm 70 and have a very modest retirement as it would take 10 years+ to invest more sensibly and recoup my losses. Luckily I still had this feeling that Lithium may recover one day, and another $20 or $30K wouldn't dig the hole that much deeper so I bought a few PLS at 17 cents, GXY at 80 cents and unfortunately a bunch of AJM around March 2020.
But even after all the terrible and negative thoughts and sleepless nights, I did one thing right!!!.
I didn't sell a F%#@ng share in any of these companies. I held on for dear life, was pig headed and did not want to let Morgan Stanley, Macquarie and these other mongrels win by getting my shares on the cheap as they were clearly talking their book and shorting the hell out of everything - even if they went to zero they were not having mine!! Stuff them!!! Many people on HC helped me keep the faith. There was a group of one-eyed believers that really helped me stay focussed on the longer term and not capitulate. This is the good part of HC.
What I thought may take 10 years for my finances to recover, took less than 18 months. Wow!!. And here we are.
I'm nicely in the green by well over 6 figures now and the future is bright!! This is a $500-$600K turnaround. :-0 Crazy stuff. I still haven't told the wife just yet as it doesn't feel real until I have some cash back in my bank account
So what now. I have waaaayyyyyyy too much % of my net worth in Lithium stocks. However, having been through such pain and heartache as others here have endured, I really think it's our time to be rewarded over the coming years for this conviction, patience and determination. So I will sell a few slowly to reduce my risk and exposure, and I have a plan which will see me hang onto a fair chunk of my holdings long term - hopefully free carried in a few years. I plan to make hundreds of thousands over time if all goes well. This week I sold my first ever parcels of PLS at $1.67/$1.68 and GXY at $4.43 to raise about $60K cash which was a nice feeling. I will keep selling small lots on the way up this time (I was quite tempted to sell earlier this year but held off for a long time in this rising market till getting to this point).
I am now a much better investor and have learned a lot - hence the PhD in what not to do!!. But working on my degree on what I should do!!. Over the next few years I hope to be rewarded with large amounts of gains from PLS and the like as they start to fulfill their potential and capitalise on their dominant market position - and this time I will have buckets of cash at the ready for any of those March 2020 type events in the future - ready to scoop up quality companies on sale.
So well done Johnny87 (and for taking some $$ off the table) and all those that have had a similar journey to you and myself. I reckon there are plenty of people that have had a similar experience, and unfortunately plenty that were duped and scared out of their holdings along the way by the so called "experts"and hedge funds and or negative posters that may have had an agenda.
PLS is my favourite stock by far now, and it is fitting that whilst I lost over 6 figures on AJM, I have made about double that on PLS in part due to them acquiring the Altura business on the cheap. And I think PLS is just getting warmed up and will be an absolute powerhouse in the future!!.
To all current holders whatever your story and whatever your entry point, I look forward to being part of something great here with you all with PLS for many years to come and we all deserve to be rewarded over time for our belief!!. GLTAH.
(20min delay)