Investing Blunders ?

thanks for bringing this thread back up again - a great read. appears most of the property blunders were from not buying in the first place, or selling to soon. exactly the same as my blunders - selling to unlock the equity when i didn't need to because i didn't understand refinancing!:eek:

as for telstra - i bought first float as employee for $2.50, sold for $9.20, bought back again for $4(something) and sold again for $7(something). so i'm happy.

as for bhp!! - sold for around $10 when they did the split a few years back to fund an ip purchase ... the shares have since tripled and the ip hasn't moved! :eek:

roundabouts and swings ...
 
I have been pondering for several weeks whether to get rid of my few hundred Telstra shares and take the capital loss. Today & recent events has told me to accept my fate and get rid of the basta..ds!. At least it is written off against mauch larger capital gains thanks to the mining boom. My only real mistake is only having 2 ips.
Greg
 
there was a 2bed unit in the north shore selling for 260 in late 2005, dad said that first floors were unsafe.

since then, it has gone to 300+ according to medians and so on

bought something else that wasnt as good

lesson learned: dont listen to anyone exclusively, there usually is no correct answer based on future but learn as much as possible and make calculated risks.
 
Grego said:
I have been pondering for several weeks whether to get rid of my few hundred Telstra shares and take the capital loss. Today & recent events has told me to accept my fate and get rid of the basta..ds!.
Click to expand...


I suppose you realise, but in case not, Telstra went ex div 14c fully franked today, so Telstra was up a bit, even though it dropped 12c. Still a dog, just not as big.

See ya's.
 
Did someone say "options"

Options over shares. I'm a sucker for them.

Over the years I've consistently lost money by buying share options.

One example will suffice. On the last Thursday in July I bought some Dow Jones put (index) options. I went for a jog, and then returned to buy more of them. The next day the Dow Jones went up by over 100 points.

The Dow Jones has since rocketed, particularly last week.

Tony
 
my blunders

Financial planner advised me to buy shares in bluechip companies in 2003 some of which I suggested after my brother first suggested them to me. Not a good sign. Made money from every share in the companies I bought from a couple of years later. In 2004, I had money to invest and I asked her about investing in gold bullion and Google which had an upcoming float. She questioned me on did I know what I was doing? She instead advised me to buy more blue chips but also told me that it was getting harder and harder to find a company that had had value ie. low PE ratio and high dividends and growth etc. Not a good sign again! I bought on her recommendatoin and half the stock I lost money a year later. Then gold and Google started going through the roof. If I had bought gold in 2004, I would have made 70% of my capital back in over a year and with Google about 300%.

The lesson for me was to do your own research. Financial advisers are limited on what they can advise you in (she was being very conservative as she said I had a low risk profile) and they have only so much time to do their own research since they have to deal with so many clients. They also need commissions to keep afloat so will steer you to certain investments. They won't recommend gold bullion (no commission in it for them) or international stocks since they don't know much about the markets overseas unless it is international mutual funds or property trusts. I also had loads of US dollars and she could offer no helpful advice and so I lost opportunity by not converting it immediately.

Anyway, now I do my own research and so far I am way ahead in capital growth compared to my previous forays in the share market on my financial planner's advice. I still have a low risk profile but then again I have an anal personality and will research a stock or sector to death until I understand almost everything about it before I buy weighing up the risks. I also combine macroeconomics and microeconomics with my investment to get the big picture which many financial planners don't do. :cool: :cool: :cool:
 
rj
Is your glass half full or half empty?

I reckon its good to read threads like this.Investing is not always as easy as some make it out to be.The best bit is reading how people pick themselves up dust themselves off and get back into it.
cheers yadreamin
 
Im not implying that investing is always shiny happy people skipping through fields of daffodils - im just become a little tired of threads like this.

Then again, Im just tired and grumpy :p

RJ
 
My biggest blunder was not having toilet paper on hand and realising that the water was turned off after having reached the business end of the deal.

RJ
 
falling off chair, very loud laughter, you really are a dag.:D :D :D :D
[poor choice of words there sorry:eek: ]

cheers yadreamin


ps shopping list for reno.
TOILET PAPER
PLASTIC BUCKET[to fill with water for the just in case times]
 
ramone_johnny said:
Oh wow, another "failure" thread.

RJ
Click to expand...

You don't HAVE to read these threads if you don't want to, RJ. Everyone learns differently. I for one find other people's mistakes useful.
Alex
 
Lost opportunities - where do i start?

1. 1982 - WarwicK Qld
- 2 timber homes side by side positively geared not in best suburb but reliable.

Price $4000 each!

My answer - nah I'll buy a business instead!

2. 1987 - just before the RE boom. renting a new brick 3 bedroom home one block back from the beach at bargara near Bundy. the landlord offered to sell it to us.
Price $54,000 ono.

Answer - Nah I will move shortly anyway. Missed out on huge growth here at the end of the nineties too.


Worst mistake - Like some others here - not listening to my more perceptive wife. I went ahead with an open ended building contract with a builder my wife did not like.
Still made some money but not much!

Always trust wifes instincts. Or maybe develop your own antenna.
 
RJ, reading this thread ia actually giving me a push, not to just sit on my hands but to get on with it!

I suppose you realise, but in case not, Telstra went ex div 14c fully franked today, so Telstra was up a bit, even though it dropped 12c. Still a dog, just not as big.
Click to expand...
Thanks, yes I was aware, anyway at least one more divi b4 i offload

Greg
 
alexlee said:
You don't HAVE to read these threads if you don't want to, RJ. Everyone learns differently. I for one find other people's mistakes useful.
Alex
Click to expand...
i'd rather learn from other people's mistakes than my own ... :D

it's always good to know you're not the only one to have ^%#ed up occasionaly
 
Hi all,

Rj,

Blunders in all aspects of ones life are likely to happen if you have not learnt to avoid them.

Do you speed past speed cameras on the side of the road?? Or have you learnt that doing so leads to a fine and pain(financial and possibly physical if the missus finds out)??

There is all sorts of information about what to do in books and throughout this forum, but a list of things that people have found caused them grief, should help those that are starting out avoid some mistakes.

I bumped this thread because of what I perceive as a classic investment blunder, this time by the federal government. The ramifications of the thinking by all those pollies and econobeaurocrats (I think I just invented a new word), shows that common sense in investing,

is very uncommon.

bye
 
OK ... So I'm a trusting sorta guy

Blunder ... trusting a firm of 'financial advisors' who were less than frank with me. Fees and trails can be killers. Live and learn. Do your own research and keep as few people as possible between you and your money. Luckily, I had some good realestate that lessened the pain of the ride (realestate that one planner tried to talk me into selling in 1999 because he was sure res property was going nowhere! If I'd followed his advice I would now be hundreds of 1000s down the tube. Almost the stuff of nightmares...) Gabriel
 
Mine's pretty simple not discovering property early enough. I dumped all my savings during uni into a wrap account.

After investing in about 4 managed funds (which cost about 2% MER) + the wrap account taking and 1.5% and paying comissions to the fin planner i've gotten about 12% compounding over 5 years when the markets return 20%+ in the past 3 years...
 
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