Oops!...I Did It Again

[MRG]

I rode FMO (Federal Mogul) into bankruptcy, unfortunately with 90% of my retirement savings, in 1999/2000.

A good buddy took control of his retirement just before that time frame; first he made a bundle and rode it down about as far.

Sorry for the pain.

 

[Sunset]

A good buddy took control of his retirement just before that time frame; first he made a bundle and rode it down about as far.
.....

Yes the time before the 2000 dip, was fantastic, we were all so brilliant, I would make more money in the morning before lunch, than I earned at the job... life was sweet ..

 

[1-31-18]

Why do people tend to brag about their winners and fail to mention this losers? Here's why: Success has many fathers. Failure is an orphan.

I recently got out of individual stocks entirely, except for Berkshire which is a conglomerate, not because I made many bad choices but because the risk of being blind-sided by company-specific developments is too great. There is no reason why I should think I would do as well as any active manager. Not in my part time. And active managers as a class don't do very well.

So it's index funds for me. Boring but somewhat safer.

 

[Fedup]

I think it's also too painful to talk about it.

 

[Jaded salami]

Back when I was younger and less experienced, I traded stocks, read all the books, including the boring ones. My boss, who sat in his office trading stocks all day, heard I had an interest, and asked me for a stock tip. I warned him I didn't give advice, but he insisted. So I said...

Telephonos de Mexico, now called TelMex.

My boss, liked value stocks, and at the time it looked very attractive to him. So he went in big at around 43 dollars per share.

This was in November of 1994. In December 20, 1994, the Mexican government devalued the peso and raised interest in a futile attempt to stop a market meltdown.

On that day, Telmex set a record then for most dollars traded in one day on one stock on the NYSE. It dropped from 43 to 12.

I told my boss to get out of it, I was big on stock momentum and had gotten out during the crash at around 18. He thought it was an even better value play and bought more.

The next day it dropped to 8, then to 4.

And basically stayed there for five years.

That was the start of my path toward reading books like Ä random Walk down Wall Street, which got me onto index funds. Since then, I've never looked at individual stocks again.

That was the first and last stock tip I ever gave to someone.

My boss retired the next year and I took his job so it ended well.

 

[brucethebroker]

Conseco. Local insurer, I figured too big to fail.........
What really galled me, was an article in a local paper about a week after the bankruptcy, covering a speech by the CEO(?) to the "troops". He told them not to panic, that they would come through OK. "No one is going to lose their jobs....". Why not Why not cut some of the fat since the shareholders all took a bath??

Did OK with Marvel (should have kept it!!), Pep Boys and Riteaid (sold since). Also got hurt on Worldcom.

 

[Ready-4-ER-at-14]

I rode FMO (Federal Mogul) into bankruptcy, unfortunately with 90% of my retirement savings, in 1999/2000.

Pilot I too lost some money on FMO.

I think we were both cheated by a very bad legal opinion of the acquired British ? companies asbestos liability. Not material risk took the entire company and they even found a way to take the Canadian holdings as well by legal slight of hand.

I'm still surprised what ever lawyer and accounting firm gave that opinion has not help make whole the former shareholders.

 

[NW-Bound]

No, I'm not talking about the Britney Spears song, I'm talking about bottom feeding on stocks.

My affliction is TTCAFKS
Trying to catch a falling knife syndrome
The last time I came down with a case of this, the falling knife was Bank of America. OUCH!

I couldn't help myself & just picked up 200 shares of GE @ $26.21
Hope I'm not sorry tomorrow

Is there anything that may cause GE to go to 0, like BAC potentially could back in 2008?

Anyway, GE closed at $26.58 today. Should the OP grab his profit of $74 before trading costs, and run?

 

[RobbieB]

Hehe, my "get rich quick" plan dissolved in less than 2 years luckily when I was young dealing with FN Wolf.

Lost 25 grand, learned good lesson -

 

[MarieIG]

Oh, I thought bank stocks were great pre 2008. BoA, Washington Mutual (yep down to 0) and Citibank with their glorious 5/1 reverse split. I am trying to resist the pull of single stocks and slowly move my stocks into funds.

 

[NW-Bound]

Talk about "doin' it again", I do not listen to Britney Spears, but there's this song that I like.


Do It Again
In the mornin' you go gunnin' for the man who stole your water
And you fire till he is done in but they catch you at the border
And the mourners are all singin' as they drag you by your feet
But the hangman isn't hangin' and they put you on the street​

You go back, Jack, do it again, wheel turnin' 'round and 'round
You go back, Jack, do it again​

​

 

[ducky911]

Lucent

 

[ownyourfuture]

Is there anything that may cause GE to go to 0, like BAC potentially could back in 2008?

Anyway, GE closed at $26.58 today. Should the OP grab his profit of $74 before trading costs, and run?

As of today I'm up a whopping $142.39 or 2.71%
Funny thing is, if GE's share price is the same in July 2018, that 2.71% return might not look bad. At least when you consider that it's about 4 or 5 times more than the return had I left it in the Fidelity money market SPAXX.

 

[OldShooter]

I used to say this too, now I've shifted to:

• Thinking about what I'll do when I win has entertainment value.
• I don't give up anything by gambling away 10 euros a month. I'd gain quite a bit if I'd win though. ...

Yes. Certainly there are people who understand exactly what they are doing and why. But millions of people all over the world consider winning the lottery to be their retirement plan and many more believe that playing the lottery can lift them out of poverty. Instead, it contributes to their impoverishment. That is the tragedy, not people like you.

Actually I spent some enjoyable time thinking about what I'd do if I won the US PowerBall when it reached $1B. My conclusion was that I probably wouldn't live long enough to find worthy charities, even by hiring full-time folks to help. I never actually bought a ticket, though, so my daydreams were cheaper than yours!

 

[RobLJ]

From 2014 to 2016, I rode SDRL down, down, and downer. It would have been much worse than a 65% loss, but when short sellers got crushed in early March of last year (it bubbled up from below 2 to 7.49 all in one day, then sank like a stone) I dumped almost all of my shares.

I know it sounds weird, But Im grateful to hear some of the stories about picking losers. Every one I used to talk to always made a killing, In my life I was always the one getting killed.