Hi All,Excellent advice Slick.Back in the 90's, I bought into a...

Hi All,

Excellent advice Slick.

Back in the 90's, I bought into a Black Box Charting package called Market Analyser (which is now called Bourse Analyser). It is a very good software package, as far as I am concerned. My aim was to do what many on here do - Trade Stocks.

I liked Candle Stick charting and have a nice library of books based around this, and other TA and Charting concepts. I did a couple of trading courses which were also very informative.

One very important pieces of advice I was given: If you can't trade the underlying stock, then for gods sake, do not trade Derivatives.

I became very good a buying stocks - but bloody useless at selling them. I have quite a few stocks that are just not worth selling (and I am glad I never took out a Margin Loan).

When the GFC hit, I was forced to reassess what I was doing:

• I no longer try and "trade"
• I am actively looking for income producing stocks - I prefer a Dividend where possible
• I dropped my subscription to Bourse Analyser - although I loved the software, I could not justify the ongoing cost

Interestingly, all my current promising stocks, are stocks that I bought way before the GFC, and none yet give a Divi, and many are no longer in the same industry as when I first bought them.

I have been in IMU since 2002, and I am up 650%, which, out of 25 companies I hold, now represents 21% of my portfolio. I would love to have purchased more recently, but alas, COVID took my job away, so no spare cash. In this stock, I am a firm long term holder and am only worried about the recently missed buying opportunities.

Good luck to all holders.