Best Short-Term Return You've Ever Made?

[RobbieB]

My wife sat down at the penny slots with the $20 I loaded in her machine and the $26 voucher I closed out when my poker seat was available.

After the tournament 3 hours later I found that she had turned it into $700.

 

[Oz investor]

on horses ( racetracks )

two very nice wins one at 20/1 another at 25/1 ( bizarrely i considered both a 'sure thing ' other gamblers didn't , so the price drifted out and the horses bolted in convincingly) but that was my younger days

but i suppose to OP meant the share market


one was (is i still hold a few ) a micro cap i bought in @ at 0.1c in Sept. 2016 when it announced a change of focus into selling Australian wine online into ( mostly ) China

a few months later it added a digital currency play the last of several sell-downs was at 1.5c in November 2017 that share is currently in a prolonged trading halt as the regulator comes to grips with digital currency trading as a financial business

the last official price was 0.9c ( but i already had taken plenty of profit )

( i have a motto of NOT being overly greedy )

another was bought into as a micro cap oil play bought at 1.4c ( a new share ) it started producing some oil ( but probably not in a persistent profit ) and decided to plunge into IT security ( and was eventually a reverse take-over ) my last share sell-down ( of several ) was at 46.5c in October 2015 , the share is still currently trading @ roughly 38c but is now trying to be a internet bank and money transfer facility

the stand-out is a share Pro Medicus ( some US folks might have heard of that one , any medical professionals as members ?) bought @ 16.5c in June 2011

the last sell down ( of several ) was @ $3.02 in December 2015

i still hold some ( a top 10 holding ) and is currently trading in excess of $19 ( the peak so far is $20.52 )

a teenage nick-name used to be 'lucky ' ( that morphed over the decades ) maybe one of my friends was a visionary .

HOWEVER my key goal is a robust source of income in my retirement ( i am hoping to never having to draw-down on investment capital )

such lucky moments have to be limited so as not to lose focus on the main task

i believe in taking profits at sensible levels ( and reinvesting them sensibly )

please note all share prices are in Australian dollars ( and cents )

 

[NW-Bound]

Being an active investor, I routinely make (and lose) $50k to $100k on short-term bets. This amount does not include the gain or loss on my core holdings whose fluctuating values far exceeded the amount above.

When I "lost" in a short-term bet, I just waited it out and it became a long-term stock AA increase.

Thus, it is not the same as losing in Las Vegas, where the lost money would never come back to you.

 

[Aerides]

Turned $600 into $2400, in about a year, following a thread here on a biotec that got bought.

Bought a new townhouse in 2002 for $125k. Sold it in 2005 for $250k.

 

[EastWest Gal]

A week after moving to PA, I had nothing to do, my family was still in California, so I drove to Atlantic City for a one night stay. I gambled a little in the evening, and again late the next morning. I was about even the early in the afternoon and needed to leave for my 3 hr drive home, but really wanted to spend a little time on the Quarter Wheel of Fortune slot machines. I gave myself a 20 minute window, no more than $40, then planned to leave.

None of the machines were available. I went to a nearby bank of nickel machines, threw in a $5 bill, and hit a jackpot for $20 before I had spent $2. I cashed out there, went back to to the Wheel of Fortune machines-still none available. So hanging out nearby, I tried a dime machine with my $20. After about 5 pulls, the machine started clanging and flashing. I won a $1400 progressive. After giving the casino folks the form for taxes, I decided to go to the dollar Wheel if Fortune machines, then go home after 5 minutes. In those 5 minutes, only putting in a $20, I walked away with another $400. That $1800 cash, won within in my allotted 20 minutes, was my cash stash for months.

 

[Dash man]

AMZN - bought a couple of hundred shares when it became profitable.

 

[braumeister]

This is reminding me of my favorite quick score story.
My grandparents retired at 65 (which is what you did in those days) and decided to fulfill their lifetime dream of a driving trip to see the United States (which was smaller back then -- only 48 states).

They had a great trip and eventually came to Las Vegas. Their room wasn't ready so they had a few hours to kill in a casino. Within an hour they were up over $6,000 (over $50,000 today). Grandma was having such a wonderful time she wanted to keep at it, but Grandpa took her by the arm and steered her out to the parking lot. "Shouldn't we see if our room is ready yet?" she asked.
"No, we're getting out of this town as fast as we can and never coming back." he replied.

My grandfather only had about five years of grade school but he was a very smart cookie.

 

[jim584672]

I remember the flash crash of 2015. I was watching the screen and the numbers made no sense, down SO much in a few minutes. Unfortunately I didn't buy anything, if I did I would have made a easy 20% in a few minutes.

 

[jt999]

Thank You for Sharing

It's nice to see the variety of ways folks have made a nice return.

Some gambling - $2 Powerball Ticket yields $50K (before taxes) - it's funny - I actually have ties with 3 people who I knew directly or have won the lottery - one was a classmate I went to High School with, 1 was a former co-worker's father, 1 went to high school with of one my managers (a neighboring school district). Nice to see somebody wins!

I like the horse racing claimer story - I thought claimers were a real grind but it looks like you found a good one to make a good short-term return - I am a sports card enthusiast and the guy I usually buys cards from has a couple of horses - he buys yearlings and he said it is a fun hobby but he's happy if he just breaks even but he's in the game and he enjoys it. He told me the medical costs for the horses can be expensive (and they are unplanned).

Good to see somebody caught the meat substitute stock - interesting company - and then you have Enron...that really took me back. Thanks for sharing your stories. I enjoyed reading.

 

[mickj]

Bought in April of this year some of my company stock and I am up 50'ish %

Now the stress of deciding when to sell.

Now up 75%

I sold a third of my holdings today

 

[Starsky]

For those still preparing to RE, the best investment I made consistently was my 401K matching contributions - 100% return instantly! Hard to beat.

 

[Surewhitey]

I don't know about best, but the one I enjoyed the most was Enron.

I bought some in early 2000. My skeptical self got nervous about it and sold it later that year for about an 18% gain. Not a big sum, but I've always felt good about it, and even today I smile whenever I hear Enron mentioned.

I wondered if I was the only one who made out on Enron. I gambled on the free fall @ around $.60 / shr. Sold for $.90 a few days later. Never went back in...

Now that I think about it, Nortel, QCOM, BRCM, dotcom days were exciting.

 

[Surewhitey]

We also bought a house for $282k in 2015. Sold it for $428k in 2.5 years. Next home was $282k ironically, 2 streets over, albeit smaller. I think we netted $100k after all the dust settled... Tax free, of course.

 

[Sunset]

I wondered if I was the only one who made out on Enron. I gambled on the free fall @ around $.60 / shr. Sold for $.90 a few days later. Never went back in...

Now that I think about it, Nortel, QCOM, BRCM, dotcom days were exciting.

Yes, looking back on it now, I realize it was like playing Russian Roulette with an automatic

 

[Doc0]

I bought some penny stock @ 7 cents and sold out at 60 cents after turning my initial purchase into a free trade, and put the initial purchase money into BRK.B. After I sold out I read a story about how some guy was able to get home from the Greek islands because he had BTC. It was 2015 I think when Greece froze up and nothing worked BUT BTC. I decided I needed some of that so I took the profit from the penny stock and put half in BRK.B and half in BTC @ $275. BRK.B is up 26% since I bought it, and BTC is up 2900%

 

[Kroeran]

In the Ottawa Federal Government many colleagues had spouses at Nortel or JDU. Pre meeting buzz would include bragging about stock options, “I no longer need to work” stuff, stories of cleaners getting rich on options, and so on.

A year later it was stories of spouses getting laid off, mortgages on houses no longer affordable. I bought a jet ski off of a twenty something high techer laid off. A lot of retirements were ruined by over exposure to high tech.

Friend of mine in senior management at Intel had a big blow up with his boss just before the bubble burst, resigned and cashed out his options on the way out the door. Was sitting on a large pile of cash when things crashed.

Mid 2000s I was doing well with sub prime private lending, but drifted into riskier bridge loans where you could pocket 10k on a 100k note in a couple of weeks.

But, I was too trusting of a borrower who had the lawyer and broker in his pocket and found myself with a 2nd mortgage out of water on a slum, hungry for a 20k monthly first mortgage payment.

The process of digging myself out of that was life changing.

 

[hotwired]

Btc

2200 percent, give or take, 2k experiment in crypto turned 2k into 36k in about a month

 

[Sconie]

Watching the events of 9/11/2001 unfold-----and listening to the tales of individuals attempting to contact their loved ones on cell phones convinced me that mobil phones were here to stay. As soon as the NYSE reopened, I bought Nokia; I sold the same shares a little over 3 months later-----a "double bagger" on my initial investment.

 

[stephenson]

Bought ROKU in December 18 while goofing off in Key West ... had been following the streaming technology for a year or so ... also bought MJ while sniffing the alleyways.

Should buy from Key West more often.

 

[l2ridehd]

I have had three that really stand out for me anyway.

Back in 1982 or 83 I was playing a few stock options and made some and lost some, but bought some IBM options that were out a few months and turned out I had perfect timing. Turned a $5000 investment into $151,000. Never did anything else even close to that with options.

I used to flip a house once in a while, one every couple years. This was also in the 80's. Bought a lake front cottage in NH in June for $125,000, had to put about $10,000 into it, and sold it in September for $250,000. Got it cheap because it had a problem nobody wanted to tackle and also hit market timing going up for lake front property in that area. Always made a profit on my flips, but nothing close to this one.

Then just last year was in Las Vegas and played blackjack. Had a stake of about $2000 which I turned into $11,000 in about 6 hours. Unfortunately I lost about half of it back over the next several days. Still left town with around $7000 so for me a huge win. I keep getting so many offers of free stuff to come back. Free rooms, shows, meal credits. I think they want their money back.

 

[scrabbler1]

I don't know about best, but the one I enjoyed the most was Enron.

I bought some in early 2000. My skeptical self got nervous about it and sold it later that year for about an 18% gain. Not a big sum, but I've always felt good about it, and even today I smile whenever I hear Enron mentioned.

Coincidentally, I once made a 18% return on some money invested for one year. It was $500 so I got nearly $600 back. The return was crucial because I moved to my new place in that year (leaving me without a lot of money for a while) and bought my dinette set which cost me just under $600.

 

[kimcdougc]

Purchased a vacation condo in 2004 sold in 2010 triple what we paid for it. That was during the housing crises too. It was a very good investment.

 

[gabrewer]

I have a couple, presuming short-term means less than one year. Back when I first started investing in the late 80's, I was attracted by a little known small cap fund call Ultra, managed by 20th Century Investors (now American Century). After seeing a dip within a few months of buying, it bounced back to return over 100% within 12 months. Alas, this attracted a lot of attention -- and investment dollars to the fund -- and it's never been the same since. I still own it, but it's basically another large cap growth fund, and return does not vary much from the market overall.

In the early 2000's I bought Drugstore.com, following Peter Lynch's advice to invest in companies relevant to you for some reason. I purchased contact lenses and other health-related merchandise on the site, so I thought I would give it a try. The stock was very ho-hum for most of the year. One morning when I checked the price, it was up over 90%. Turns out Walgreens had made a buyout offer. I figured it was best to lock in my gains and sold within a day or two.

 

[bmcgonig]

Back when I was a teenager in Ireland I used to go to the race course every now and then. One day I was walking there (too young no car) and got a lift from a stranger. He told me that this horse was running in the last race called Carlow Rose. Well he said that Carlow Rose was out to win this time. What do you mean " out to win"...as opposed to "out to lose" I said? Exactly, he said. Carlow Rose runs best at 7 furlongs he said, and the trainer runs him at all the other distances because he won't win there, and that's the form that everyone looks at. So indeed I got to the the races and looked at his form (racing history). Lost all his last 6 races badly but none at 7 furlongs. Anyway..I put a fiver on him and he won at 33/1. Lot of money for me at the time!!

True enough to form the next year I watched him and when he ran anything but 7 furlongs he lost. Then at the end of the season he ran 7 again he won. Again at 33/1. This time I had a few friends in on it and we all made money. I imagine the owners did too. The races weren't worth a lot of money and he could probably make more betting on his horse once or twice a year.

The next year he was bought by someone else, and ran nothing but 7 furlong races and won quite a few. This owner wanted to win I guess. Of course my golden goose was dead.

I was told beforehand that horse racing was crooked but now I was sure. Saved me a lot of money after that just wondering if my horses owners even wanted to win in the first place. Silly betting on them if I'm not even that convinced.