# I dub me "Worst investor ever"



## emperor (Jul 24, 2011)

Well after spending 20k on gold then having the biggest loss in 30 years I give up.

I've invested in currency, stocks and metals. 

Lost my shirt on all of them. Never made 1 dollar on over 60k of investments.

Last investment I'll make is a house which I'm sure will lose 20% value one year Later. But what can you do? I've waited 10 years for a correction already.


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## eulogy (Oct 29, 2011)

Why don't you just invest in a portfolio of index funds, with a decent allocation to help you deal with your risk factor? It's a pretty simple way of approaching it. It's not glamorous. It's not fun. It's not even that interesting.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Consider thyself dubbed.

Let me know when you buy a house, so I can put mine up for sale.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Changing strategy every 6 months doesn't help.


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## leoc2 (Dec 28, 2010)

How about core and explore. 
Core = index funds. Explore = casino money ... pick high flyers. 
Core = large allocation. Explore = small allocation. Unless you feel lucky.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Based on the amounts quoted, I don't know that this is the worst ever. 

When the dot com crash happened, the Globe and Mail profiled an individual who started out thinking he knew technology stocks. According to the article, post dot com crash - he had turned $160K into $39K and was facing his third margin call (so the losses exceeded $120K).

I'm thinking he didn't learn his lesson as the article started with him commenting that it was his choice but by the end he was saying the better technology to react quickly that big players have was the main reason for his losses. 


Not that it helps with your losses.


Cheers


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

OP: Don't feel bad. There are many investors around who started off with disastrously results. It seems to me that you are speculating, not investing. Speculating is fine if you are doing it with a small portion of your portfolio but for most of your portfolio you should be investing by taking prudent risks. I don't know what you mean by "lost my shirt" on stocks because if you are investing regularly in a diversified portfolio, you should be making modest returns.


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## larry81 (Nov 22, 2010)

Worst investor ?

You can't compete with the king of the apple zealots:

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/03/04/apple-zaky-bullish-cross/
http://slopeofhope.com/2013/03/how-to-lose-93-in-five-easy-months.html


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## emperor (Jul 24, 2011)

I'm thankful I couldnt figure out bitcoin or I would have lost even more.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

^ LOL!

I was wondering how many members here, if any, got burned in the great bitcoin crash of 2013.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

emperor said:


> I'm thankful I couldnt figure out bitcoin or I would have lost even more.


Lol +1


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

emperor said:


> Lost my shirt on *all *of them.


Sorry about that Emperor.

I would be interested to hear what stocks you bought, other than gold, not to have had success with any?

Depending on where you live, I wouldn't buy that house just yet.


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

emperor said:


> I'm thankful I couldnt figure out bitcoin or I would have lost even more.


Incomplex is sometimes.....well, much simpler & where one should start anyway.

Good you still have your sense of humour intact. :encouragement:


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

sometimes loosing money is an expensive lesson that is needed... when 08 crush came, i was down 30g's at one point for a while but I got lucky by doubling down and waiting it out... that was a painful lesson for me, but it was well worth it at the end...


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

If it wasn't for the 08 crisis, I doubt that I would be a DIY investor today. It's amazing how much I have learned since then!


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

emperor said:


> I'm thankful I couldnt figure out bitcoin or I would have lost even more.


Bitcoin is simple, instead of an arbitrary rare metal being "valuable", it's an arbitrary rare series of numbers.

Except there is some utility to precious metals, there is no utility to bitcoin, it's just a "currency" with no government support.


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## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

emperor

Invest to hedge not to speculate.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

Emperor I learned this lesson as well because I trusted the paper market. Buy physical gold and silver or buy CEF and just hold it for insurance purposes. The paper market isn't worth anything and may go to zero.

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldn..._Keep_Up_With_Massive_Global_Gold_Demand.html


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Emperor
You are a speculator.

It is certainly possible to lose without limit in speculations. If you wish to become an investor, you need to stop following hot tips and start learning how to make money work for you long term. This does not involve intuition. It is making the odds work in your favour over the long haul.


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

Emperor, not much to add to what others have said. You are a speculator, not an investor. 

So the question becomes: are you "Worst speculator ever"?

No you are not. As far as speculation goes, your results are very typical.

You need to learn the difference between speculation and investing.


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## daddybigbucks (Jan 30, 2011)

blin10 said:


> sometimes loosing money is an expensive lesson that is needed... ..





toronto.gal said:


> If it wasn't for the 08 crisis, I doubt that I would be a DIY investor today. It's amazing how much I have learned since then!


yep and yep.

I learn WAY more from doing something wrong than by doing something right.

Keep at it and you'll win, just learn from every mistake.


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## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

It is a lot better to think your the worst investor then to think your the best investor when your actualy the worst investor.

A good path to become the worst investor is to be dependent with what the majority is doing. For the herd is dumber then the dumbest person in it. For someone to be the worst investor they need to have no independent thinking & be part of the herd. Never think your not smart enough to do your own research & do your own thing because you have no where to go but up because the herd is the dumbest of all & @ least you will have a chance of being right.


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## 6811 (Jan 1, 2013)

daddybigbucks said:


> yep and yep.
> 
> I learn WAY more from doing something wrong than by doing something right.
> 
> Keep at it and you'll win, just learn from every mistake.


Amen to that DBB! :applouse:


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

We all probably have some regrets and made some big mistakes , I use to own Bre-x and so many other crap mining stocks way back ,think i lost 70% lol .I wish I stuck to GRPN trades could have made another 50%(Sold all at $4.00) ,now that is really a statement and reflection of how crazy the markets can be


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

"Well after spending 20k on gold then having the biggest loss in 30 years I give up."

I did the same thing. Then when gold bottomed I bought 5X as much, and coppered my bet by buying puts. I'm now in the black even though gold has only recovered half what it lost after my first buy.

Two lessons here. One, you are going to be wrong a lot. So don't bet the farm. Take a tiny position and see what happens. Two, when you are wrong, get out. Or, revise your thinking in the light of new information and change your position.

You get better eventually if you don't lose all your money first. By the way I don't recommend speculating. You are far better off to buy value stocks or ETFs. But if you can't help taking a flyer once in a while, first make sure the odds are in your favor, take a small position, and be ready to bail or revise your thinking as necessary.


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