Gordon Pape calling it quits

I read that a small earthquake had hit Montreal today around 1:30pm. At 1:30pm, I was at work, but I didn’t feel anything of the earthquake.

Some parts of my portfolio did very well today! Surprise for EnCana Corporation (ECA) who hit the 32.13$! A little while ago, I had invested in 200 stocks of EnCana Corporation (ECA) at 29.59$. Since my investment in ECA, I find the title had problem to go up again. It’s probably not anytime soon that ECA is going to hit the 65$ per stock like it use to be, but at least, the increase of today show that ECA worth the try. I could sell my EnCana Corporation (ECA) and pay off a major part of my margin facility and make a profit of more than 500$. Feel appealing, but it’s not anytime soon that I am going to sell my precious EnCana stocks. EnCana can do much more better than just a 32.13$ per stock! Just give EnCana the chance it’s deserved, and you’ll see, I may be right. Maybe.

In his latest column title More uncertainty!, Gordon Pape warns investors about a possible index loss of 5 to 10%. Well, that’s nothing compare to the 2008 stock crash. My philosophy being: if I had been able to get out intact (or almost lol..) of the 2008 stock crash, my portfolio – now even more diversify than before – is going to support a 5, 10, 15, 20 or even 30, or 35% loss. TD Waterhouse had made a huge mistake by publishing Gordon Pape article in their pages. It’s actually giving me the idea of changing of online broker! Never taught about trading at 4.99$ with CIBC instead of 9.99$ commission fee of TD Waterhouse? Hummm... Interesting but TD had done a lot for me.

Investors should know better than just cashing the cash and running away out like chickens of the stock market with their money in their pockets! In period of uncertainty, it’s time to hold and stick to what you believe in. And myself, I certainly do not believe in Gordon Pape!

The world we live in is full of uncertainties. There will always be conflicts. There wars going on in different places of the Earth. It’s just we don’t hear about all of them in the news every day or don’t pay attention to them. In his article, Gordon Pape focuses of course, on the Japan tsunami disaster and the problem going on in Libya. Arabic people had decided to join their forces and call a revolution. This step is necessary. It’s not because a country want to get a democracy of its own that its time to sell investments and call it quick. Mentality need to be completely reverse. More than ever, it’s time to support the economy. In his article, Gordon Pape is screaming to small investors: SELL, SELL, SELL! Uncertainty is part of life. If an individual cannot support it – like it seems to be the case of Gordon Pape – well, my opinion would be: don’t invest at all! Stay home stuck in bank GICs.

To sell or not is the investor choice. In many occasions, while facing some lost, I decided not to sell my valuable assets. In most cases, the decision had pay off. My most famous example would be my 2008 investment in 500 stocks of Sprott Inc. (SII). Just before the stock crash of 2008, I made my ever first stock investment at 10$ per stock, 5 000$ value. Following the crash, Sprott Inc. (SII) got a hard hit and went from 10$ to under 4$... Imagine... My first stock investment, and I was already ruined... Back than, I was 28, all the time of the world. I was hurt, but I knew the market was going to recover. I never doubt about my investment in Sprott Inc. (SII). 2 years later, Sprott Inc. (SII) had hit closed the 10$, had paid many times dividend and special dividend. I mean, I win and will win again on the long run. This is all what investing in stock is about for me: investing in trust. I have the same level of confident in most of the companies that I invest in. That's why it's not anytime soon I will be selling piece of my portfolio just for the heck of selling.

Japanese are so self-efficient, they almost already fix their nuclear problem. Nothing is totally fixed yet, but at the speed things are improving, I am very tempted to say that we are going to have a resolution very soon. In order words: don’t sell your stocks because of a possible major Japanese nuclear eruption. We have to believe in those people and stop being as selfish as Gordon Pape. The stock market is more than just a place where to make (and sometime loose) money. It’s about being connected to something bigger than what you can actually imagine. That’s why I am so into the London-TMX merger. The possibilities are endless. But many of the banks CEOs, sitting comfortably on their millions, are not willing to open the possibilities. Of course not.

In other words, when it comes to finance, be careful to whom you’ll be listening to. Don’t trust the fool who suggest selling when a storm is about to hit hard, don’t trust the CEO bank pigs, the ones who don’t want of the London-TMX merger. All together, they are all the same, losers willing to make themselves important. Selling stocks in period of uncertainty is for LOSERS. Will you be part of them? I won’t, but I will be ready for the storm and, if it has to happen, a margin call. I AM READY! :0)