Your worst rookie error?

Friday schadenfreude fun. Letā€™s put a face on ā€œcapital at riskā€. Beat this.

13 Likes

That made me wince slightly!

Is there anything youā€™d do differently next time / that youā€™ve learnt from this, besides not buying the stock right at that moment perhaps? :wink:

2 Likes

DEF TESLA !!! It gives me a hard time ā€“ I bought in at 282USD ā€” give a like if you are like me in that love hate relationship with TESLA STOCKā€¦

1 Like

I definitely think itā€™s something Freetrade will have to confront with introducing inexperienced investors to the markets. For me this was a classic ā€œbuy low sell high, how much lower could it really go?ā€ when I started in November, hence sharing it as a learning experience. When I saw the test go up I bought more, and when I was up 25% I thought let it keep rising to previous highs.

Since then Iā€™ve learned far more about fundamental analysis, insights along the lines of Simply Wall Street to understand balance sheets would be a great help. I recently learned my dividend-growth balance approach was actually a bit too low risk and loosing out on high-growth stocks where the potential upsides outweigh the risks, hence buying far more US tech recently.

3 Likes

I just finished reading a book about Theranos called ā€œBad Bloodā€. Turned out not to be a good investment, but the book was a fantastic read about the rise and fall of the startup.

2 Likes

Great documentary based on it as well ā€œThe Inventor - Out For Blood In Silicon Valleyā€

3 Likes

My biggest mistakes were in the pre-Freetrade years (below, from when we discussed mistakes a year ago). I learned a lot from them. Current errors: Stitchfix -6 and had been +100% but I held on to it, and Baidu -45%.

I think that the lesson for me is that the two things that work are

  1. putting a lot of time and effort into stock selection while also being very talented at it (which I donā€™t do)
  2. safe, boring and very patient low-cost, diverse index-trackery strategies (which is what I do, 95%).
7 Likes

Mine too is Tesla this year, I bought at a similar price, and will now be waiting to see what happens over the next 10 years or so. Still hopeful though!

2 Likes

Iā€™m learning not to rush and get carried away. A few stocks and I hurried to buy thinking they are at a low price only for them to fall further: Tesla, Vodafone, Aston Martin

2 Likes

It seems like its getting worse ā€“ I am the same I refuse to sell and ā€˜fightā€™ until the end ā€“ maybe Elon will take over the world with his rockets and he will take us loyal shareholders with him to Mars

1 Like

Worst error: early stage crowdfunding when I didnā€™t have a clue about anything. However, I am confident that the Ā£200 punt on Freetradeā€™s round 1 will make everything come good, if not fantastic. Actually, my worse error might be not putting a grand in.

3 Likes

How did you get into Theranos?

1 Like

How much were the 328 shares if you donā€™t mind me asking?

TCG was a big one for me. I got out at -20%. In the time it could take TCG to recover, my money can hopefully do a lot more work elsewhere. Impulse purchase gone wrong (shockingly).

What made you invest?

When the sp dropped to 19p I thought that TCG was a greatly under priced (and continue to think that it is). I therefore made a series of purchases based on this dramatic drop in price as the airline itself is valuable, extensive hotel portfolio and fortsun were increasing their holding. I was slightly slow off the mark and ended up with an average buy of 26p. I was using a platform with a high price per trade so held my position (until I sold). Had I had freetrade I would have had a lot of fun as it is a day traderā€™s playground. I do think that TCG will survive and recover but there are definitely better places for my money while TCG sorts itself out.

1 Like

I guess Debenhams I have a 100% loss so was my worst rookie error. I did write the money off when I bought it so it isnā€™t really an error. Not selling them quicker than I did (they didnā€™t complete so it has now failed) may be a rookie mistake.

These are classic rookie errors.

I did buy Sainsburys just before the ASDA deal collapsed which sent the stock plunging.
I did buy Stagecoach just before they were banned from government train contracts sent stocks falling.
I did buy ITV just before the Jeremy Kyle story which made the stock fall further.

8 Likes

Mine is Royal Mail. I got shares at the IPO.

Tried to sell last summer at around Ā£6.50 but I didnā€™t know my Equinti reference number (terrible system) and couldnā€™t get home to find it. So I never did sell and now theyā€™re at Ā£2.30, unlikely to get back to Ā£6.50 anytime soon.

Iā€™d keep hold of ITV. They should bounce back towards the end of the year when they release Britbox. Certainly not overvalued currently so sit tight, I am.

1 Like

Can you let us know who you buy so we donā€™t!

Wow that is an unlucky three buys but feel ITV is just a blip and should recover

3 Likes