# What was your biggest ever mistake?



## TulipFX

We all have them. Barry Crockers, bloody shockers, trades we wish we had the TARDIS to correct.

What was yours?

Mine was the usual, in my early days of trading I thought I could predict the market - the fundamentals said that the EURJPY should rise. So I took a hugely over-leveraged position and blew my account. As it turned out Keynes was right when he stated that the market can be wrong for longer then I could stay solvent. My account was gone before the market did move in the direction I anticipated, but it was too late.

Luckily it was only a small, learning account of a couple of thousand, not fatal. It did learn me a huge lesson - it pushed me towards both technical and automated trading as well as better risk management.

What lesson did you learn from your mistake?


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## tech/a

The first wife.
The most expensive decision you'll ever make is marriage.


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## TulipFX

tech/a said:


> The first wife.
> The most expensive decision you'll ever make is marriage.




LOL. I was referring to trading mistakes techhy.


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## tech/a

TulipFX said:


> LOL. I was referring to trading mistakes techhy.




Sorry sense of humour got the best of me.
Even though for many it is true!


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## luke256

I bought a mitsubishi magna some years ago......that was a big mistake


For trading probably when I started out, I remember entering a long trade with a stop loss with an intitial risk of 2% then as the price moved against it i moved the stop down until i exited with around 10% loss.

I later realised i could have taken a 2% loss then put the other 8% towards 4 more trades.


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## TulipFX

luke256 said:


> I bought a mitsubishi magna some years ago......that was a big mistake
> 
> 
> For trading probably when I started out, I remember entering a long trade with a stop loss with an intitial risk of 2% then as the price moved against it i moved the stop down until i exited with around 10% loss.
> 
> I later realised i could have taken a 2% loss then put the other 8% towards 4 more trades.




If that was your biggest ever trading mistake than you have done well!


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## Vicki

Being gullable enough to be sucked-in by 'Planet Wealth' & their rediculously dangerous mantra, that the "proffessionals" are just plain wrong, & that it's O.K. to risk up to 50% of your capital on put-spreads...[shudder].

It was like handing children a 'gerry-can' full of petrol & some matches, then saying,
"You-all have fun now!" 

Vicki


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## 1nvstor

Vicki said:


> Being gullable enough to be sucked-in by 'Planet Wealth' & their rediculously dangerous mantra, that the "proffessionals" are just plain wrong, & that it's O.K. to risk up to 50% of your capital on put-spreads...[shudder].
> 
> It was like handing children a 'gerry-can' full of petrol & some matches, then saying,
> "You-all have fun now!"
> 
> Vicki




Mine was when I bought NTU for 28 cents and accidently triggered them for 26


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## skc

The biggest mistake is often the opportunity missed.

Selling AVB for 2.2c in early Sept was one.

Not allocating more money to my most profitable trading strategy was another.



tech/a said:


> The first wife.
> The most expensive decision you'll ever make is marriage.




Lol. The wedding was the entry. The devoice was the stop loss. Your stops were too wide!


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## prawn_86

Selling STB @ 25c a yr ago. Now 3.87


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## tech/a

*skc
Prawn*

A common theme by many and I would have joined you years ago.
Watch list with entry strategy attached to the chart does the trick.

You have to work at this job of trading both on and off the screen.

Sure it takes 10 mins a day to get up and running but its "Behind" the scenes that often makes the $$s.

Not enough room here to list my biggest mistakes
.
But I will say they ALL had to do with POOR RISK MANAGEMENT.
Business/Property/Trading------

*They only happen once---that's why they are called mistakes!*


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## TulipFX

That's it Techhy. Never make the same mistake twice


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## nomore4s

skc said:


> The biggest mistake is often the opportunity missed.
> 
> Selling AVB for 2.2c in early Sept was one.






prawn_86 said:


> Selling STB @ 25c a yr ago. Now 3.87




Maybe the mistake wasn't exiting but not re-entering at some point?

But we have all had the should've, would've, could've moments in trading, in some regards it is the hardest part to deal with - missed opportunities. I've had too many to list

But like Tech my biggest mistakes all relate back to one thing - POOR RISK MANAGEMENT


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## Market Depth

For me the biggest mistake was probably the 1987 CRASH!! I was young and nieve back then, and didn't really understand the mechanics of the market, where was Hong Kong? I didn't really care. What was computer trading? What the hell was liquidity all about? I was paying someone quite a bit of money at them time, to tell me where I should put my money. And then to make matters worse, after the fall, and I lost about half of my coin, he kept telling me to BUY MORE!! "Why didn't he just wait until the market fell, then tell me to buy?" Is what I kept saying to myself, but of course I know better nowdays. I've now spent the next 20+ years working towards trying to Answer that very simple question, I asked myself all those years ago. The answer is far from simple.


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## TulipFX

Don't forget to keep telling us your story in the 'one thing you could do better' thread Market Depth


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## forexdiscussion

TulipFX said:


> We all have them. Barry Crockers, bloody shockers, trades we wish we had the TARDIS to correct.
> 
> What was yours?
> 
> Mine was the usual, in my early days of trading I thought I could predict the market - the fundamentals said that the EURJPY should rise. So I took a hugely over-leveraged position and blew my account. As it turned out Keynes was right when he stated that the market can be wrong for longer then I could stay solvent. My account was gone before the market did move in the direction I anticipated, but it was too late.
> 
> Luckily it was only a small, learning account of a couple of thousand, not fatal. It did learn me a huge lesson - it pushed me towards both technical and automated trading as well as better risk management.
> 
> What lesson did you learn from your mistake?




My biggest mistake in forex trading all this while is there is no proper money management. All this while my thinking in fores trading is to get quick and big money.
Now I realise the money management is the most critical success factor in order to survice and successfull in forex trading.


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## Market Depth

TulipFX said:


> Don't forget to keep telling us your story in the 'one thing you could do better' thread Market Depth




Been working on it today Tulip The markets down, so I'm only going through my 'TO BUY' shopping list, and wait til Monday me thinks


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## Julia

Selling CPB at 28.61:   now 39.50


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## Buckfont

Last one was selling BDR mid August for 0.27c. Bought at 0.19c.

0.775c just now


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## Market Depth

I protest I don't think that taking a profit constitutes a mistake. With hindsight it does, but we can't trade hindsight, OH how we all wish we could we trade for profits.


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## Sean K

prawn_86 said:


> Selling STB @ 25c a yr ago. Now 3.87



I think I sold around then too Prawn. Derrr

Agree with tech on the first wife thing. Disaster. Everyone needs a practice run though.

Selling the likes of AZM, GRY, GIR, BRM, PRU in late 09 were, in retrospect, life changing.


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## tech/a

Market Depth said:


> I protest I don't think that taking a profit constitutes a mistake. With hindsight it does, but we can't trade hindsight, OH how we all wish we could we trade for profits.




Leaving money on the table without as much as a cursory glance at how to get a large proportion of it if it continues to accumulate after you've taken yours off--- is simply *poor business.
*
Taking a profit with no forward planning is like opening for business on Saturday taking your profits and closing for the rest of your business life.
By the look of this thread there are plenty who have done so.

Nothing wrong with taking a profit but *PLENTY wrong* with not taking* ENOUGH profit!*


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## Smurf1976

Putting all my money into managed funds which turned out not to be very well managed...


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## Market Depth

tech/a said:


> Leaving money on the table without as much as a cursory glance at how to get a large proportion of it if it continues to accumulate after you've taken yours off--- is simply *poor business.
> *
> Taking a profit with no forward planning is like opening for business on Saturday taking your profits and closing for the rest of your business life.
> By the look of this thread there are plenty who have done so.
> 
> Nothing wrong with taking a profit but *PLENTY wrong* with not taking* ENOUGH profit!*




I was just havin' a laugh Tech

I agree with all of what you say. I guess it comes down to what time frames the OP had in mind, when they first entered their postions?

For me if I earn 20% profit on an Intraday trade, that began as an Intraday trade, then for me I consider that enough. I'd also consider a 4% profit on an Itraday trade on a stock that typically trades with a 5-7% spread enough for that day. As for longer term  swing and postion trades, I let the stock decide how much it's going to give me, or won't give me.


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## Lucky_Country

Umm not buying FMG @ 48c in 2004 - 5 got as high as $130 before splitting the register.

Now I class the company as a highly profitable blue chip with a great growth profile.


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## robusta

Buying ERA @ ~ $21.00 earlier this year and expecting past performance to be repeated.

Lucky to get out without being burnt to bad.


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## GNeill

Bought AUN @ $4.10 and within 3 months was down to $0.05 back in the late 90's.


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## So_Cynical

skc said:


> Selling AVB for 2.2c in early Sept was one.






prawn_86 said:


> Selling STB @ 25c a yr ago. Now 3.87




I had 10500 shares in IAU back in late 2008 average price about 18 cents per share, IAU was one of 2010's biggest movers (trading above $2.20) and i sold out for a lousy 12% profit.


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## GumbyLearner

I went fishing once with a 40 pound strength line. 
Caught something massive and had to let it go. For the rest of the day, no bites.
At the end of the day, I caught a small snapper. Didn't weigh much and certainly not
enough to go round at dinner.

Oh well, it was just fishing.


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## TulipFX

Cheers for the thread hijack guys.

Silly share traders :


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## grace

Selling some gems in 09 (april in fact) - oh the pain!  I thought the overall market had further to fall at the time.  Boy was I wrong!  I did not buy them back.  Why?  Trying to convince myself that I was right in selling them I guess....

GIR  60c
BRM  $1.16  
ORI  $17
BHP  $33

I also had STB very early, but was not "attached to it" like the above stocks. (I know, one shouldn't get attached) 

The other big mistake I made was not buying the stocks that I had put on my "takeover watchlist".  Most of those have now been taken over.  Why didn't I buy them if I thought they were targets???  Opportunities missed.


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## jonojpsg

Investing in City Pacific  Poured good money after bad on that one


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## Huitzii

Oh the pain ,it still hurts me every day that I log onto view my portfolio.
On the 16/09/2010 I bought 14K of BCD @.16c (the worst decision I have ever made)
On the 7/10/2010 BCD want into trading halt followed by voluntary  suspension of trading with finance dramas which seemed to be sorted out with MAK.
On reopen on 14/10/2010 it dropped from .15c to .052c OUCH!!! so now at this point most of this trade was gone...in my head i just said to myself @&^%# two thirds of this trade is gone so now im in for the long haul on this one (my trades usually only last for about two weeks or less).
On the 8/11/2010 yet another trading halt as MAK pulls the pin on it cash which followed by another voluntary suspension of trading until 22/11/2010 which saw a further drop to .021c ,(my god now im really depressed hang on I will just get a stiff drink)
BCD now has the cash to continue for the next 12 months
Hang on it gets worse..... On 7/12/2010 BCD hits its low of .013c Now my 14k is worth under 1.5k.
On Friday BCD saw a 28% gain to finish on .027c after dropping form a 50% (.030c high) Oh so depressing talking about this.
Hopefully this will be a rags to riches story for BCD but im prepared to loose whats left of my 14k rather than pull out now.
On a positive note I started trading with my own real money about 6 months ago with a 50k account which is now valued at approximately 75k ....so overall not a bad result but it hurts so much to think what I could have had if I didnt make this huge error of judgment.
I have learn't a lot from this site in the last 12 months and have also learn't from my own mistakes.
One day I hope to tell this story to my grand kids when the pain isn't so great and im old and grey.


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## burglar

thinking the Subprime mortgage crisis was a local American issue which would not eclipse the China commodity boom


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## poverty

Haven't made one yet but given my appetite for risk it shouldn't be long.


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## Tyler Durden

Getting greedy and then getting scared.

A few years ago I started investing and the first thing I bought were JB Hi-fi shares, because I saw how many people were going into their stores and it was pretty crazy. I bought in at around $12. It went up to $15 and I got greedy and wanted more, but then it fell to around $7 and I got scared and sold. Now it's hanging around $17 

My lesson from this is, if I trust the sales model, stick with it. Luckily it wasn't much money.


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## warthogjump

I've got a pretty good mistake. My first ever investment into a company I was talking about with a family member which made me a few hundred bucks with quite a small investment. I was happy and excited and wanted to explore the stock market for myself. Woke up next day and saw some massive buys for a stock so I quickly researched it. I saw a recent announcement for a trading halt and read forums quickly which all had positive opinions of the trading halt and the potential spike in price it could cause. I rushed to purchase the stock before it could be too late. I'm just making up dates here because I can't remember, but the trading halt announcement said the ann will be out on or before 2 Jan. I purchased on 1 Jan. The next few days stock lost half my money I put in. Turns out I was rushing so much due to excitement that I didn't even realise the announcement was made on Jan 1 before my "buy." Like the idiot I was I thought the ann said on Jan 2,but  did not take notice of the on OR BEFORE and did not even take notice that the price had increased so much on Jan 1. So basically I purchased at the high of the price which was caused from the beautiful positive announcement. 

I rushed, I got nervous and excited, I made my decision without thinking properly, mainly because I was a real big fat newbie. 

Luckily for me, I didn't invest all the money I had into it, and when the price of the stock dropped, I purchased in at a lower price (after reading and doing so much thinking). The stock went up a bit, and my lower purchase's profit covered by higher purchase's loss. I must say though, I was scared s***less when the SP dropped after my initial purchase. 

Now, I do so much research before I purchase a stock. Before you buy, research is the key element. While you hold, patience is the key element. When you sell, research is again the key element. Don't trade without research and patience is the lesson I'm giving any newbie out there. Research and patience is what will make you money, not only in the stock market, but anywhere.


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## white_crane

Selling DGR for 5.7c (bought for an avg. of 4.2c) because simply because I wanted to get rid of them (scarcely gave the chart a look).  A few days later it broke out and about a month later peaked at 17.5c!


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## tommymac

My biggest mistake was forgetting about this forum.

My second biggest was not selling PBG for a (small) profit but selling for a big loss when it headed down quickly in 2009.  I kept thinking it would go up instead of following a good stop loss strategy.


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## tech/a

Tyler Durden said:


> Getting greedy and then getting scared.
> 
> A few years ago I started investing and the first thing I bought were JB Hi-fi shares, because I saw how many people were going into their stores and it was pretty crazy. I bought in at around $12. It went up to $15 and I got greedy and wanted more, but then it fell to around $7 and I got scared and sold. Now it's hanging around $17
> 
> My lesson from this is, if I trust the sales model, stick with it. Luckily it wasn't much money.




Luckily it didn't go broke then the lesson would have been COMPLETELY different.
Then the /your sales model would have meant zip.


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## Mister Mark

Made plenty but with the wisdom of hindsight mostly were due to being impatient and rushing in, if you miss this oppertunity another will come along and lack of research


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## ROE

Buying into companies I don't understand and think it's cheap   but that was

a while time ago since I loss that 10K I had made back many many time over with

discipline and putting plenty of effort into understanding the business ...


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## Faramir

1): Not starting my education and learning about investing twenty years ago when I was in my twenties and earning a wage without responsibility
2): In Sept 2007 - listening to my Financial Advisor (MLC Agent) who told me to put $5,000 into MLC Horizon 4 plus monthly instalments of $200-$350. Hello GFC - roughly two months later? I remained ignorant for too many years. Throwing money into some unknown pit. One day I decided to read the statements. The rip off high fees is what made me angry and I finally got out in Sept 2012 with roughly $20,000. Technically it was a $2000 taxation loss.
3): Being stupid not to take enough notice of my MLC Super and it's rip off fees. Finally transferred to a much cheaper industry fund Sept 2012. My new fund has increased by more than 85% since 2012 without the rip off fees. I'm not even managing it (not confident yet to start my own SMSF)
4): Being guilible - listening to my MLC Agent. I thought he'll look after me
5): Being ignorant. Being financially uneducated

These are not big mistakes but things I want to kick myself over.
6): Buying Acrux - ACR - a falling knife. It taught me a lesson about rushing into my first share purchase without understanding anything and reading some Morning Star recomendation. Thankfully I did not put in that much.
7): Not buying CCP back in July 2014, also had opportunities in Oct 2014 and Dec 2014. Why did I hesitate? Thinking that I could wait until it drops lower.
8): Not buying BOQ when it was under $11.
9): not buying Sirtex SRX - thinking that $16 is too expensive last March 2014
10): Not buying any shares nor having any interest during 2012 and 2013. I was holding off any spending because I thought I had to spend big on some family stuff which never happened. I lost big time.

These are mistakes that I hope I do not come across
11): Discovering that I have the WRONG temperament. I feel I am highly reactive. Not doing much because I am too busy with my mini business plus other stuff.
12): Being a slow learner or an impatience learner. After 12 months, I feel more naive and greener than ever.
13): Not saving enough - especially when an opportunity pops up but I baulked. Need the money for an expense when I could have invested if I had a bit extra.


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## Faramir

Sorry, I didn't mean to rant. I'm thankful that I am not one of those poor retires who were caught up with Storm Financial Group.

I can find the odd occasion to surf and trying my best to learn. I can still manage to volunteer as a Lifesaver despite of my poor time management and being busy in life. Guess this thread shows us that we are all trying to improve.


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## So_Cynical

I recently discovered a big mistake...i forgot that i had decided to accumulate GLB back in 2011/12 with a view to holding long term/waiting for the inevitable (US/EU) turn around.

i only remembered this last week when i posted in the GLB thread about the $1 SP breakthrough, i was kicking myself for not holding on to a few more and then a few minutes later remembered that i had planned to, then looking back at portfolio screen shots was stunned to see that i held 22000 shares.

GLB was my 3rd largest holding for about 20 months, somehow i forgot to hold on to them all...basically i missed out on 12K in profits, i had a great 3/4/5 year plan and executed it then promptly forgot about it 20 months later.


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## CanOz

I would say my biggest mistake was trusting a very large sum of money to a managed futures fund. While draw-downs are part of the ride, i think i should have been more patient and started off with a smaller sum to put into the fund. Between the currency loss and the exceptional draw-down my wife no longer has any faith in managed futures...This is a shame because i still feel there is a place for them in a portfolio of investments.

I've got plenty more mistakes that i could refer to and all have taught me something, so the lessons, while expensive where not a total loss...


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## burglar

Faramir said:


> ... These are not big mistakes ...




1): Not learning about investing twenty years ago

Not your mistake ... the Education System should teach this.

2): listening to my Financial Advisor (MLC Agent) 

Not your mistake! This is why we need less idiots in politics ... these people should be heavily regulated.

3): Being stupid not to take enough notice of my MLC Super and it's rip off fees.

Not stupid ... perhaps naive.

4): Being gullible

We are all born gullible ... country raising seems to be the best cure!

5): Being ignorant. Being financially uneducated

Not your mistake ... the Education System should teach this.




And don't kick yourself ... it leaves bruises but doesn't fix anything.


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## Faramir

Thank you Burglar. I have nearly reached my 12 month anniversary.


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## Wysiwyg

Faramir said:


> Why did I hesitate? Thinking that I could wait until it drops lower.



All the share stuff is pure hindsight. Disappointing to see prices go in ones favour, thankful when prices go against when not invested, but the wrong focus.


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## burglar

Wysiwyg said:


> All the share stuff is pure hindsight. Disappointing to see prices go in ones favour, thankful when prices go against when not invested, but the wrong focus.




I thought I had said enough in my earlier post
But I sooo agree with you about "Hindsight Trading"!

It reminded me of postmortem after chess (the ancient game).

Useless anecdote about a chess game I had with (WIM) Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky
Once, I weakened a "b pawn" in a game with the girl.
She pointed it out as the significant departure from theory.
Firstly, I had run out of significant theory in my head.
Secondly, I had no idea if she would pounce on the blunder.


Good ole wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngan_Phan-Koshnitsky
"After the 1998 South Australia chess championship match, her opponent Robert Cowley claimed he lost (4-2) to Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky because he was too distracted by her cleavage"!

I had no such problem. :


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## minwa

burglar said:


> 1): Not learning about investing twenty years ago
> 
> Not your mistake ... the Education System should teach this.
> 
> 2): listening to my Financial Advisor (MLC Agent)
> 
> Not your mistake! This is why we need less idiots in politics ... these people should be heavily regulated.
> 
> 3): Being stupid not to take enough notice of my MLC Super and it's rip off fees.
> 
> Not stupid ... perhaps naive.
> 
> 4): Being gullible
> 
> We are all born gullible ... country raising seems to be the best cure!
> 
> 5): Being ignorant. Being financially uneducated
> 
> Not your mistake ... the Education System should teach this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And don't kick yourself ... it leaves bruises but doesn't fix anything.




Really ? Take some responsibility..If you are talking about a plane crashing into your house then I will agree. But all those on that list is PERSONAL. They are mistakes. Do not blame the public education system - it is there to provide jobs for the society, not to increase your personal wealth. You are free to seek other (money making) education to educate yourself. So easy to blame someone else like politicians instead of blaming yourself for not looking at what YOUR money is doing. 

No need to kick yourself, but definitely do not make up excuse on external third party for your individual poor personal performance.


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## Faramir

Hi Minwa
That's why I posted here and not on "Why won't the Government or an Angel help me?" thread (does it exist).

I had a very different mind in my younger days. Now I am very grateful with everyone's help and input.


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## rcm617

Strangely enough my two biggest mistakes were also my two biggest successes. 
Bought TPG (as SOT) back in 2008 for 28c, then sold half at $1.50.
Bought SRX for $6.00, then sold half at $13.00.
Though I have done well by hanging on to the rest, If I calculate the potential profit foregone if I had kept them, it would easily outweigh my losses on my many disastrous share purchases.


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## burglar

minwa said:


> Really ? Take some responsibility..If you are talking about a plane crashing into your house then I will agree. But all those on that list is PERSONAL. They are mistakes ...




Really!?

In school, I learnt algebra and religion.

I did not learn SMSF or investing.

Soon I will be on a pension for life, and I don't much mind!! 
Youse young people are howling for a level playing field.
Too late mate.


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## Wysiwyg

burglar said:


> It reminded me of postmortem after chess (the ancient game).
> 
> Useless anecdote about a chess game I had with (WIM) Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky
> Once, I weakened a "b pawn" in a game with the girl.
> She pointed it out as the significant departure from theory.
> Firstly, I had run out of significant theory in my head.
> Secondly, I had no idea if she would pounce on the blunder.




I am a Spark Chess Premium regular player (Wallaby) and had a few of the real boards in my youth including an early version of the touch pad electronic boards. Great relaxant tis chess.  



> Good ole wiki:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngan_Phan-Koshnitsky
> "After the 1998 South Australia chess championship match, her opponent Robert Cowley claimed he lost (4-2) to Ngan Phan-Koshnitsky because he was too distracted by her cleavage"!
> 
> I had no such problem. :



 Yes they're a firm set alright. :


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## needsajet

I bought $5K of a company I liked. When it went down, I bought $5K more (dollar averaging, haha). Did it again twice, so then I had $20K capital riding on it. When I gave up, I sold the lot for $5K net. Mistake was not re-doing my original research because I had overly convinced myself of the story, and wouldn't accept quickly enough that I was wrong.


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## galumay

I made a fair bit of money in speccy miners in WA when i worked there skippering gin palaces for local businessmen, i was enticed to put most of my capital into a venture that the owners of one particular boat reckoned was a sure thing, it was private shares too, pre IPO, they disappeared with my money so i lost my shirt basically.

The only thing that mitigated my mistake of greed and trust was that i was suspicious enough by nature that I unloaded about 3 dozen bottles of very good cellared and aged reds from them that was stored on the boat - it helped offset the loss somewhat!


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## burglar

Faramir said:


> ... MLC Super and it's rip off fees ...




Worst was the exit fee, mine about $4000

This is where you reward the bustards, 
despite a dismal failure at managing your funds.

I choked when I heard. 
Told that amount decreased towards zero over time! 
I chose to wait.

That was a mistake!!


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## Bill M

Losing 25K cold on a "_safe and secure_" debenture fixed interest investment. Lesson learn't was *NOTHING* is safe and secure or guaranteed if the company goes bust. The only one investment that is worth the guarantee it is given is the 250K per account in the bank by the Government.


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## So_Cynical

Wysiwyg said:


> I am a Spark Chess Premium regular player (Wallaby) and had a few of the real boards in my youth including an early version of the touch pad electronic boards. Great relaxant tis chess.
> 
> Yes they're a firm set alright. :




These are the best "firm set" photos i could find.
~


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## DeepState

Faramir said:


> ... After 12 months, I feel more naive and greener than ever.




You are making progress!  

1. When we start something, we are unconsciously incompetent. We have no idea what we don't know.  Often that makes us quite confident when walking into the unknown.  I have a neighbor, a retired CEO of a mid-sized subsidiary of a US firm, who started trading last year.  Up by 30% early on, he declared that he was better than Buffett. All the usual trader talk came speeeewing out. Four am starts to cover the US developments, had to be at the desk for the closing action - no exceptions. On it went. Total Rambo. One year later, he declared that there was no way he could make money from trading. 

2. As we learn, we become aware of our (usually epic) incompetence.  We become consciously incompetent.  At this point, we usually feel like total crap.  A lot just drop out at this point.

3. After a while, if we persist with purposeful effort, we can become consciously competent.  We can do it, but it takes effort.  It is exhausting.

4. Under certain conditions and truly sustained effort, this becomes easy and we do it by gut. It becomes automatic. We become unconsciously competent.  It just flows.


You are at stage 2.  It's better than stage 1.  It's the point at which you start to improve.  Up until then, most people can't be told anything. They are too busy telling you how it should be done. At that stage, we don't know we don't know. 

When I ran a team, I would never hire the young bucks until they had their arrogance hammered out of them and, whilst super smart, entered with the attitude "I know I don't know.  But I know I can learn and will bust a gut to do so".    In my case, it took about four years to get to that point (at least, I think I got there).  You are super-smart Faramir. Your accelerated program got you there in one.


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## tech/a

My biggest mistakes have been opportunities I have not investigated.
Seen them but not followed through.

Far more costly than errors of judgement.
Far more frequent as well


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## Faramir

burglar said:


> Worst was the exit fee, mine about $4000
> This is where you reward the bustards, despite a dismal failure at managing your funds.



Just reading my last MLC statements before I rolled over to an Industry Fund. I can't find the exit fee. I was just happy to leave my old fund. I occasionally look at Smart Investor monthly magazine and selectingsuper.com.au. My new fund is always many positions ahead of my old fund/product. I will be the first to admit that I do not have the best solution but I definitely know it is a much better solution than before. I think selectingsuper is a good site. Maybe there are other good site as well.



DeepState said:


> You are making progress!
> 
> 1. When we start something, we are unconsciously incompetent. We have no idea what we don't know.  Often that makes us quite confident when walking into the unknown.
> 
> 2. As we learn, we become aware of our (usually epic) incompetence.  We become consciously incompetent.  At this point, we usually feel like total crap.  A lot just drop out at this point.
> 
> You are at stage 2.  It's better than stage 1.  It's the point at which you start to improve.  Up until then, most people can't be told anything. They are too busy telling you how it should be done. At that stage, we don't know we don't know.
> 
> ....... entered with the attitude "I know I don't know.  But I know I can learn and will bust a gut to do so".



Thank you DeepState. I do not think I am super-smart. I am just grateful that when I was in Stage 1, I was nothing like this thread.
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28842
Your Lottery ticket sums up that thread.

Now my challenge to manage my time better so that I can dedicate more time to learning. I might even leave Stage 2 and hopefully enter Stage 3, even if I do it in very small steps.



tech/a said:


> My biggest mistakes have been opportunities I have not investigated.
> Seen them but not followed through.
> 
> Far more costly than errors of judgement.
> Far more frequent as well



Tech/a, were the opportunities you missed ocurrred more frequently when you first started or are they current 'mistakes' or is it because you had focused on one trade/good opportunity that another one passes by? Was it the lack of time and too many opportunities presenting themselves at once that it was difficult to prioritise them?

Thank you everyone for your honesty. I am happy that we are trying to learn when I could have been negative, regretful and not productive so that my mind could have been closed to learning.


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## get better

DeepState said:


> You are making progress!
> 
> 1. When we start something, we are unconsciously incompetent. We have no idea what we don't know.  Often that makes us quite confident when walking into the unknown.  I have a neighbor, a retired CEO of a mid-sized subsidiary of a US firm, who started trading last year.  Up by 30% early on, he declared that he was better than Buffett. All the usual trader talk came speeeewing out. Four am starts to cover the US developments, had to be at the desk for the closing action - no exceptions. On it went. Total Rambo. One year later, he declared that there was no way he could make money from trading.
> 
> 2. As we learn, we become aware of our (usually epic) incompetence.  We become consciously incompetent.  At this point, we usually feel like total crap.  A lot just drop out at this point.
> 
> 3. After a while, if we persist with purposeful effort, we can become consciously competent.  We can do it, but it takes effort.  It is exhausting.
> 
> 4. Under certain conditions and truly sustained effort, this becomes easy and we do it by gut. It becomes automatic. We become unconsciously competent.  It just flows.
> 
> 
> You are at stage 2.  It's better than stage 1.  It's the point at which you start to improve.  Up until then, most people can't be told anything. They are too busy telling you how it should be done. At that stage, we don't know we don't know.
> 
> When I ran a team, I would never hire the young bucks until they had their arrogance hammered out of them and, whilst super smart, entered with the attitude "I know I don't know.  But I know I can learn and will bust a gut to do so".    In my case, it took about four years to get to that point (at least, I think I got there).  You are super-smart Faramir. Your accelerated program got you there in one.




+1

I see stage 2 from most people I know who have delved into stocks at some point in their life. Interestingly enough, it's these people that seem to sell me their sage advice of "stay out of the market, it's too risky" and "leave money in the bank, best way to protect your capital". 

Luckily for me, I like to keep an open mind and have persisted which has allowed me to start Stage 3 (or so I think!).

Thanks for the wise words.


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## StockTrader010

By far my biggest mistake so far has been buying individual equities. 

Over time, I've learned that taking on firm-specific risk is _not_ worth the risk. Stock-picking is such a waste of time. Instead, I've learned that performance improves when I stick to ETFs. As for the allocation between different ETFs, naive diversification ftw! 

According to Investopedia, even Markowitz uses it (http://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/11/naive-diversification-vs-optimization.asp)


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## darkhorse70

Good feedvack DS. Might have to stick that one on my wall.


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## blaze182

Haven't read through this yet, but will in a few days when I get some more time, bound to be some interesting things here. 

My biggest mistake was being greedy, and massively over-extending my original position sizes. (Yep, sizeS, I did this multiple times... I like to make sure I learn things ).


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## evilk9

Not learning about investing sooner


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## shouldaindex

This is a brilliant thread.

My biggest mistake is believing the 'reality' of sites like MF (pick the next winner, why not, here are some) or HC (Gonna 10 bag, believe me or stop downramping).

It hasn't translated into $ losses, but the learning journey was put at risk by taking those places at face value, which put my $ at risk.  I'd prefer to get the knowledge/strategy/skills right, than to get an individual stock pick right, so that's why I consider that a mistake.


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## hhse

Buying shares and sitting on it.


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