2011 had been marked by the market upside-down. For me who had followed the stock market every single day, like many others, well, I have to say, I find that the Canadian stock market had been very EXTREMELY difficult to follow and at some point, well, you know, F U the stock market!
But wait..... It’s not the good time to flush the stock market and left it behind. 2011 had been the year of the extreme. Big gains had been followed by big capital losses. Overall, 2011 had tested the patience of investors. We had to face the market adversity and the extreme volatility.
My holding strategy had always paid off. I started investing in stocks shortly before the 2008 stock crash. Following the 2008 stock crash, I was disappointed of course because I had just invested thousands and thousands of dollars on the Canadian stock market. My goal was to make money, not to lose some! Before 2008, I had previously invested in GICs and mutual funds, so I knew kind of how to handle the market shit (there’s really no better word to describe the stock market at this point!!!).
When you invest in quality stuff that you truly believe in, when there’s no interior or exterior signs that the treasure you had invested in is in trouble, than, at that time only, the best way to beat that beast that is the stock market, well, the best of the best thing to do is to simply HOLD. There’s no other solution. You could always sell, buy something else and cross your fingers hoping that the new investment will, one day, gain so much that you’ll be able to recover from your capital losses but if you decided to do so, well, good luck because you’ll need some! Anyone who invested in stocks these days have to be seriously insane (like me) or be a stock addict (again like me).
Over time, I had become the best HOLD investor of all time. Nothing more, nothing less.
Following the 2008 stock crash, I decided to hold everything I had and it was the best decision I could ever take for my money. I hold, and I totally recover from my losses.
2009 and 2010 had been good years. But 2011...... 2011 DRIVE ME CRAZY.
Japan tsunami was among the worst experience ever. And I live it while being in Canada. Imagine for 2 sec being in Japan when it actually happen. The worst nightmare ever.
Following the Japan tsunami, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out if my portfolio would be strong enough to survive. Part of this stress comes from the unfortunate fact that I had bought some of my stocks using my margin account. My point was: the country with the third-largest economy being hit by a tsunami, this is going to take the Canadian stock market down down down, this is going to hurt my portfolio very badly.
Strangely, the TSX didn’t go down following the Japan tsunami. It was like nothing was happening. I actually stop trying to understand this nonsense.
The August 2011 stock crash was very ugly. I went to New Brunswick during the last 2 weeks of July for my summer vacations and when I came back... that was it, the stock market crash, right after my vacations. LIKE WOW.
I don’t remember the first couple months of the year 2011. I will have to read my post of the January-April 2011 to remember lol. Fact is, life was boring with my 2 jobs in a call center. But oh surprise, I left Quebec forever in August 2011. Bye bye shitty Quebec province. Bye 4 EVER.
I got a job right here in X town of New Brunswick. Better pay, better everything, but it’s not perfect. A place cannot be perfect unless I am the manager if you see what I mean. I got my mother old 2002 Toyota Echo car. In 2012, the car will be 10 years old. I will drive that car until it doesn’t pass the inspection anymore. Getting back into driving had been quite of a challenge.
What else happen in 2011?
I invest a lot of money. Some of my investments had turned out to do extremely well, like Exchange Income Corporation (EIF) and some other, like the Data Group Income Fund (DGI.UN) haven’t done so well. However, while mixing trading activities and investment activities well, luckily at the end, I haven’t loss money, I haven’t make any either. The situation is stable, and it’s absolutely very good the way it is.
2011 had been the direct continuity of 2010. In 2010, just like in 2011, I had trade a lot. I had reached in 2010 100k worth in investment, it was cool.
At this point, it had become more and more difficult for me to find the perfect investment to add to my portfolio. That’s because I already have everything I ever wanted. So it’s getting real tough!
What’s next for 2012?
First of all, for the period of January to March 2012, I will be concentrate over my RRSP account. I don’t like RRSP because that’s money invested for 30 years of now. The only reason why I invest in a RRSP is because of the tax credit it provides, no other reason. I have more than 7k that I want to invest for my RRSP 2011 contribution.
I don’t expect to trade that much in 2012, but I will certainly be investing in new stuff. I already spot some new investments! We’ll discuss more about them in a next post. Following what, if nothing else catches my interest, I will be paying off some debt of mine.
I really hope to hit the 200k value in 2012!!!
We’ll see what happen.
You are in denial regarding your loss for the year. The TSX loss 11% during the year, you're invested 100% in canadian stocks and you loss even more.
ReplyDeleteCan you explain how you figure you didn't lose any money when the stocks you owned or sold during the year where down from 25% TO 80%. (EX. JE, PSLV, HZD, K, DGI.UN, NFI, ECA, YLO, MX, SII, TIM, BNT, HE). Only 2 stocks where up over 25% (PPL and EIF). Let's not forget the interest you paid on your credit also.