letting go

I remember discussion about buy prices last week when trader had that car crash. Anyway I bought at .49 and again at .33 prior to the lengthy suspension. My average was .38 and I hung out and hung out waiting for the inevitable tripling of the sp. While a short run finally occurred it then retreated once more and being so frustrated I sold 50% of my NXS shares for .38 and bought some BOW in the mid 80's.

Why? Well, after tinkering with my super fund for the last few months of 09 I set aside $70k in my company in Feb and started trading. 50% in the sure thing NXS and the rest mainly in CSG stocks, a sector that has been very kind to my super fund these past 6 months. Even after the suspension was lifted and NXS sunk to low 30's, my portfolio value had increased to $110k. NXS was an underperformer!

After the NXS relisting I added another $30k cash to the trading kitty ($100k total investment) but invested it in other stocks (still had to hang on to my remaining 45k NXS shares, intent on seeing them to the promised land). On the 15th of this month I finally realised, after posting here about my concerns with management, that the true reason I didn't want to let go was the agony I'd feel if the sp doubled or tripled and I wasn't in. And yet I was unhappy with NXS management, unhappy with the stagnant sp, and was making sensible money on other sensible stocks.

So on the 15th I stopped worrying and cut my losses and sold my NXS at .35 (for a 3c/sh loss) and purchased an additional 20k or so BOW shares for .83 - low and behold today NXS are .32, BOW are 1.07, and my portfolio is $181k.

I'm certainly just a beginner at this game so it's probably mug's luck. But even as a beginner I have learnt an invaluable lesson of investing and hope that my experiences can help other beginners not get too hung up on underperforming speculative stocks (the HC sure thing) that promise the world but continue to not deliver.

Yes I fully appreciate that a time will probably come when the sp triples and i'll be really happy for holders when it does. But many of my other stocks have near tripled since Feb (MCC and BOW) so I'm happier now taking positions in companies who have their back yards in order, and I hope those investors in a similar frustrating position, no matter what the stock, seriously consider why they are hanging on to underperforming stocks and show some courage to cut them loose, despite the fear of missing out on good news. So far it has been a pleasant experience and it has proven to me (to date) that it is never too late to make the decision.

I will of course take this post back if NXS farms out 35% of Crux tomorrow for $400M... No, seriously, don't care what happens any more!

Cheers
Scott