What a year for AGO holders.What have I observed, well quite a...

What a year for AGO holders.

What have I observed, well quite a few things.

1/ the stupid saying 'The trend is your friend' actually isn't so stupid after all. I started selling down my Atlas portfolio when it hit $4, but didn't get out fully until $2. Then bought back in at $1.33, which is cheap enough that I no longer bother looking for short term exit points. I should have seen the writing on the wall at $3.60- $3.80 and taken a 3 month sabbatical from the market.

2/ quality stocks don't hit cash backing exceeding their market cap. Admittedly AGO got pretty close but fingers crossed it has bottomed out and has in fact more than doubled in sp since hitting 40c. Those waiting for 36c were waiting for a price that IMO was never going to occur. I bought a few more at 48c, and couldn't believe my luck!

3/ AGO management is learning. Working with media, I place a lot of value on how a company promotes itself. No point hiding your light under a bushel. Atlas finally made the decision to employ a media manager several months ago and it has certainly paid off. The company is once again having its successes reported which is certainly helping lift the sp.

4/ Companies without debt are your best bets in the current financial climate. If a company like OZL can be suspended for more than a month due to refinancing issues then any company with debt is questionable. Look at what high debt has done to RIO and FMG the past few months. Incredible.

5/ The world still needs iron ore. The efforts of governments across the world, most importantly the Chinese, to ensure economies keep growing, has impressed me enormously. Governments have shown that despite many of the current economic problems not being directly of their doing, they are willing to intervene, spend money (trillions) to keep things moving forward. To those that were claiming several months ago that this world recession would be more devastating that that of the Great Depression...I say get real!

6/ there are plenty of stupid people..and some of them are costing me money. I cant believe how many people have told me during the past 6 weeks that they are giving up on the market and selling up. People have held through the worst and sell now, when term deposit rates are little more than inflation!! Either sell early or hold long I say!

7/ every bubble must burst. The rise of Atlas in the first quarter of this year was at such a phenomenal speed that it was never going to last. A sp needs more than just a optimistic recommendation from Meryl Lynch to go from $2 to $4 in the space of two weeks. The company is now laying the foundations for a $4 sp. When the market begins to return to normal then $4 will come...again.

8/ Atlas has a very good chance of becoming the 4th largest iron ore player in Australia. The urbanisation of China and India has just commenced...if that aint a good reason to invest then I don't know what is.

9/ No one will pick the bottom of the market. So many of us (me included) get greedy by trying to pick the bottom. If you are a long term investor, then who cares if you buy 10% above the bottom. You will still make massive profits if you hold for the long term. Chances are by trying to pick the bottom you will miss it and not realize until the share price is 30% above the bottom.

10/ Margin loans can make you and cost you a fortune. Unfortunately I'm in the later category. Borrowing to finance your share portfolio when the market is suffering from extreme volatility is not the smartest decision I have ever made.

Happy new year to all