RE: How My Most Painful Investing Mistake Could Make You A Steemillionaire
Great Post. I'm not trying to date myself but I was at Merrill in 2000 in the same exact position of your post. My friend worked as a prop trader and referred to CMGI as a 'pile of poo'. While he was trading it every day both long and short, I decided to hunt for the stock that would make me a millionaire. So since he said it was total junk I decided to make my own 'amazing' investment decision. BOSTON MARKET: Geez the chicken was great.
Well needless to say I had the same exact experience as you. Watching it melt down to 0 while I sat and dreamed of it going to the moon. I took every penny I owned to make that trade, and to be honest it was probably a cheap lesson that I learned about investing early on. It was that pain that made me learn, but it was a hard lesson.
Diversification and risk management is key. It's all about proportions. Had you taken your 6k investment in CMGI and put in only in $180 dollars or 3% or so of your portfolio you wouldn't have been crying. The same $180 dollars invested in apple when it was trading at $4 dollars could have turned into 30k.
Risk management is so crucial. Buy Steemit, but only with a proper risk management strategy that is proportionally related to your total net worth.
"Risk management is so crucial. Buy Steemit, but only with a proper risk management strategy that is proportionally related to your total net worth." Very wise words. Thank you for pulling that out. And crazy! You were in the same role! We should grab a coffee sometime :-)
Thanks Jason for seeing value in my post. I really appreciate that and have added you to my 'followers' list. I live in Princeton NJ and will turn 40 this August. I cannot wait for Steemit to add their chat feature so that private dialogue may take place so I can connect with quality posters like yourself.
I think I can add much value to your original contribution in sharing all of the dumb money moves I have done over the years. I also think we would get along quite well since you are quoting King Solomon and old Hebrew Proverbs. It seems we share the same core values as humans and perhaps the same spiritual base.
At first I thought your post was fear mongering simply by the initial photo, but as I read along I realized what value you offered to the readers here. Your advice also was prudent and wise. I think that encouraging others to share wisdom is a great way for this community to grow. This is why I have created a 'Question & Answer' type of blog here. I think that a Question format offers people the most opportunity to offer up wisdom if they are willing to contribute.
You ended encouraging others to contribute their 'wisdom' and already I was like: YEAH...ANOTHER OLDER PERSON ON STEEMIT.....because I'm starting to believe that people 40+ are like senior citizens.
I think that offering younger people sage advice is a great way to contribute to them, and to teach them what we learned the hard way. When you were trading CGMI stocks were trading in fractions still 1/16, 1/8, 1/2 etc, and market makers and specialists that were not digital were still important. You probably even looking in the newspaper to check your quotes on the weekend. I totally get it.
I'm happy for the great success of your article here. I'm glad that the younger folks here are seeing the value of your experience and are soaking it all up. Mostly the part about family, friendships, health, meaningful work, and life’s basic necessities.
In that quote from your writing the 'meaningful work' really hit home. While I was at Merrill there was one guy who really hit it rich. He retired early on at age 45 with about 5 million in net worth which was quite a bit at the time, at least enough to make 200k a year sitting around. He did just that and got super bored and felt he had no purpose. He even felt all of the work he did at Merrill really had no purpose. The fact that he felt he no longer had meaningful work took a massive toll on his health and well being. He died of a heart attack 2 years after he left Merrill.
My father worked at a famous private mental health center here in Princeton as acting medical director. It is a well known fact that for men the number 1 factor for mental health is having purpose and meaningful work. Your wisdom identified it in your writing and I'm here to confirm what you have written as sage and wise advise.
Have great purpose, have meaningful work, have friends, and your health is your greatest wealth. #VIVASTEEM.
Thanks Jason for such an excellent post and I will go through my dumb money archives and come back with a few nuggets for your thread.
Cheers.
TJ
TJ, amazing truths there. I've heard the average male retiree dies within 4 years of quitting work. I look forward to hearing more from you in the future. Thanks for following me.
That's crazy Mr Question-Answers that you had the same experience as Jason! Cool comment.
The fact that you can identify me as a Mr. I find amusing. Thanks @elka for your comment. Small world I suppose.
Must be a female intuition :-)
Super-cool!
i wish i was able to awnser questions like you and post on boards like you do your actually really talented to be able to do something like this o.o