person213 - not such good news. sometimes perspective helps - i learnt part of my first lesson cost about 25k. and almost all my pride and about 9months of "i told you so from the wife".
initially i was all thanks BNB; but later on actually not at all. & interestingly i am much more successful now (hard not to be or i'd be bankrupt!).
in summary i think that the loss of pride actually set me free, and allowed me to admit when i was wrong, close out poor positions and move on.
my lesson was that being plain wrong and pig headed about it means you lose big time. with BNB i didnt understand the underlying business i was buying, i didnt understand the impact of trend & sentiment. i didnt understand external market forces and their impact on that stock. i just thought i was right. all evidence to the contrary.
i thought that i was the smartest guy in the room and was going to make a killing off all the fools selling....i also trusted in some announcements (particularly the ones that indicated that banking syndicates where going to change/ waive the covenant terms) and drew erroneous conclusion that their bankers knew more and had accepted that business was viable and would live....
i am still a risk taker. i still scavenge for mismatch between market cap and underlying value. just somewhat more sensibly!! it leads to some big wins and quite a few small losses. c'est la vie. i know im at the gambling end of the investing spectrum. lets not dress this up!
now i only buy stuff i understand something about, and i am extremely mindful about looking at how the stock fits with the broader market. i also dont want to squeeze every last penny out of it either at entry or exit. i understand my risk profile and i stick within it. plus i only use money i can afford to lose. i respect my capital (and therefore my hearing and relationship are still ok....) and if a particular stock is a bit hanging out there even for me then it is in for a small position with gains to start with and then back in for more if it looks like it is actually going to come off.....
i would take all the above with a massive grain of salt though. what works for me might not work for you. plus i am almost certain that im a bit flippant with it all and that this means that im not optimising my positions...to be frank (and self aware) i still reckon this is more of an intellectual challenge for me than a financial one.
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