Post Consolidation, page-220

I am young (20 years old) and inexperienced your right. I've mentioned before that in a perfect world we would sell the highs buy the lows, but my original investment decision was a long-term hold. I fully participated in the 0.01(10c post consol)SPP and have missed out on a lot of unrealised gains which is frustrating and has influenced me to change my investment strategy slightly. There is no correct way to approach this speculative market in my opinion, and you are right I haven't sold but my assets are now worse less so essentially it is a loss, but that dosnt mean that I won't sell these assets for a gain in the future, right? Just because you've had a bad experience in the past doesn't mean it will occur again in the future.

I will leave you with a quote from the opening chapter of The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin graham
"Since our book is not addressed to speculators, it is not meant for those who trade in the market. Most of these people are guided by charts or other largely mechanical means of determining the right moments to buy and sell. The one principle that applies to nearly all of these so-called 'technical approaches' is that one should buy because a stock or the market has gone up and one should sell because it has declined. This is the exact opposite of sound business sense everywhere else, and it is most unlikely that it can lead to lasting success on Wall Street. In our stock market experience and observation, extending over 50 years, we have not known one single person who has consistently or lastingly made money by thus 'following the market'. We do not hesitate to declare that this approach is as fallacious as it is popular."

I want to learn to be a smart investor not a speculator or technical trader, it will never lead to becoming a professional.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_theory