Any share purchase disasters?

[Sepeng]

I'm sure you only get nailed with fees and penalties if you decide to pull out before the endowment matures?

Well the fees were high regardless but yeah, I got penalised for pulling out early (please no jokes here guys... ). I needed the cash and I didn't understand the penalties. Not saying it was Liberty's fault, I do think they could've been much better in terms of explaining everything though.

 

[Goliath]

Think in all my shares trades, purchases & costs over the years I'm down R50,000-ish.. has since decided to by an apartment, get a monthly RA with Coronation and now looking at ETF's.. still has my share account with FNB and will take a punt here on there on new listings.

 

[borga]

Bought Pinnacle Holdings in 2013 based partly on it incredible grow the past few years, begining March 2014 I saw the share has been stagnate with a bit of a loss over the year and evaluated weither to cut my losses (around 5-10%) or keep the share. Decided to keep the share, next week that debacle about the director accused of bribing a police officer for tenders began and the share dropped over 50%, even thought the charges have dropped the share still hasn't recovered to its previous levels.

At least it brought home a few lessons such as previous performance doesn't equal future performance and that diverification is important no matter how great you think a single share will do. Even through I knew those things I might previously have given them less weight in my share decision process.

 

[skimread]

Didn't sell my share in Telkom after they sold their Vodacom stake. Was really dumb.

 

[buyeye]

I bought Arcelormittal Sa Ltd (ACL) at around R80 a share - currently they are worth R19 a share

Bought those at just under R30 a share. Those and Murray Roberts have me running a 20 % loss. It's not nice to look at so I don't I only look at when I have funds to buy more shares.

 

[BloodBurner9000]

I've lost out big time with kumba - they seemed a great fit for the purpose of funding my account Admin fees, and made the mistake of buying more and more as the iron ore price fell. Their value was 35% from what I bought them for one stage. Thereafter lost out on Aveng 60 % - also thought they were at a bargain price. I've not sold a single share of my all my holdings and just buy something else next. This is where Capitec saved my arse.

 

[sand_man]

In 98 I was offered preferential shares in Famousbrands and put in a purchase order for 10 000 but because they were so over subscribed I only got 800!! I think I paid R1.00 or R1.50 per share.

A couple of years later they issued n shares and my allotment was doubled to 1600 shares.

Currently the shares are valued at around R116.00 per share so mine are worth around R185k which is fantastic but had I been issued 10 000 and had that doubled to 20 000 my shares would currently be worth around R2.3m!!! And therein lies the disaster...

 

[NightShift]

I started my investment journey in the UK in around 2007 (right before the crash!). I started out with the one cardinal rule of "diversify", and I invested in a bunch of companies I didn't really know anything about, including Yell.com. From an initial investment there of about R5,000 I was left with roughly R25 when they finally hit the bottom of the barrel. Shortly after that, many of the other shares I held started tanking, before the 'crash' was an official thing. I lost a ton of cash and overall the whole experience was a bad one. I put it down to school fees. It helped me come up with a set of rules that I employ, because I also value invest:

1) Understand the company you are investing in - don't just throw money at it because it 'fits in your portfolio'
2) Never call the bottom of the trend (I tried this on some banking shares just before the banks hit the fan xD)
3) Never assume that because a share has run long and hard, it's now going to stop (thought this with EOH and get more surprised every month, decided to get into Famous Brands after a big run and Im 200% up)
4) Be clear on the criteria for an investment - e.g. results, past performance, dividend, earnings report, etc.
5) Be clear on your exit criteria - i.e. set yourself a position where you are going to get out (strongly tied to never assuming that "this share can't possibly go any lower - my money must be safe, surely")

On my current portfolio I've managed around 22% growth a year, each year for the last 5 years, excluding dividends. Pay your school fees, learn, and don't stop

 

[midnightcaller]

Bought VOX telecom when they were listed.
Lost 70% of initial outlay.
What was really bad was that a VERY close friend also purchased VOX based on my decision. He lost out as well.

 

[HavocXphere]

Nothing yet...most of my individual stock buys either make a profit or break even after costs.

Actually tempted to open an easy equity account & play some more. Fees on other share accounts are too high to really take chances & mess with individual shares

 

[Rubberpigg]

Never assume that because a share has run long and hard, it's now going to stop (thought this with EOH and get more surprised every month, decided to get into Famous Brands after a big run and Im 200% up)

Wow!
EOH has done well.

 

[midnightcaller]

Add BIL to the list of disasters

Lost almost 20%

 

[Hamster]

3) Never assume that because a share has run long and hard, it's now going to stop (thought this with EOH and get more surprised every month, decided to get into Famous Brands after a big run and Im 200% up)

I give you Aspen. Back to Oct14 levels

It was my only real direct share. I sold it, cut my losses (15%) and reinvested it into my ETFs.

 

[chicken247]

You've only lost it if you bailed.

Riding it out and taking a longterm view could very well see it breaking even or making you money.

I raise you an ABL. Wanted to put in 500k in 2012 when it was a social media favourite. Bought same number of shares 5 days afore it went to zero instead, still lost it all.

 

[NightShift]

I give you Aspen. Back to Oct14 levels

It was my only real direct share. I sold it, cut my losses (15%) and reinvested it into my ETFs.

Thats pretty much exactly what I would do - set the get-out-now point at a reasonable percentage (which for me is also 15%). I don't have the acumen to make an educated or informed decision around keeping a share because it's going to go up. The truth is I have no idea what it's going to do, and if it breaks the rules of my system, it must go.

I reckon you should try a few other shares though. My goal with investing in shares has been to outperform ETF's. I'm trying to get to the solid point where the thinking/emotion involved in purchasing a share is 0. I just check the rules of my system and if it meets them I buy, watch it for a while, and if it performs reasonably then I leave it alone.

 

[The_Ogre]

I raise you an ABL. Wanted to put in 500k in 2012 when it was a social media favourite. Bought same number of shares 5 days afore it went to zero instead, still lost it all.

Woah! :wtf: You have my condolences...

 

[mintydroid]

I raise you an ABL. Wanted to put in 500k in 2012 when it was a social media favourite. Bought same number of shares 5 days afore it went to zero instead, still lost it all.

500k down drain? Or did the share price appreciate in 2014 and you lost more?

 

[Totempole]

I raise you an ABL. Wanted to put in 500k in 2012 when it was a social media favourite. Bought same number of shares 5 days afore it went to zero instead, still lost it all.

I took a chance there too. I was a lot more careful though. Bought 2000 at 40c each. Lost it the following morning.

 

[creeper]

I took a chance there too. I was a lot more careful though. Bought 2000 at 40c each. Lost it the following morning.

Haha. For a joke, I put in a bid for ABL at 50c. Never thought it would go down to that level. I was wrong I lost R500.

 

[REAList_1]

Try Gijima..... Lost 99.9999% of its value.
No dividends ever paid out.
And now delisted - lot of crooks.
Never thought Zooma would turn on his friend.
:-(