Ever since my dad taught me everything i knew about investing today, I've been in the business of investing for 3+ years now (since I was 19 years old). Surprisingly, when i talk to my finance-savvy pals about it, they usually expect me to have dealt in at least 20 stocks since i started, due to the length of my "investing career" thus far. This couldn't be further from the truth.
My healthy portfolio stems from following the greatest investor who ever lived; Warren Buffet. Buy into companies that have potential for growth; unless there are changes to the company, (like management for example), leave it there for the long term.
I don't understand why so many people invest in companies with poor fundamentals; they are probably technical analysts. For me, the only point of TA is to quantify the amount you buy or sell. And if you buy a company with good fundamentals, even if it dips over a week or two, that shouldn't make a difference to what you saw when you bought it in the first place.
Buying is easy; its the selling that's the hard part.
Currently, throughout my four years, i have only sold 4 stocks; I have bought 6 thus far.
My best performer is without a doubt, Super Group LTD.
Bought in 2010 for $0.68; Sold (a bulk of it) in 2013 for 3.94.
Profit: 479%
My best performer in terms of amount earned over time is definitely Thomson Medical, which was the first stock i sold. Bought in 2010 for 0.68 also (like Super Group), Within a matter of months, Peter Lim offered to buy the shares at $1.75.
Profit: 157% over 9 months
There was also warrants of COSCO, but less was earned as compared to Thomson due to the risk of warrants brought about by the limited time frame; even though it showed a higher profit %, I wasn't about to risk much of my money on warrants.
Profit: 350% over 9 months
Finally, the last stock i sold was Hi-P, which was far less glamorous than the other 3; bought at 0.65, i sold it last year at 0.885.
Currently, i hold stocks of Sarin Technologies LTD and Haw Par Corp LTD, as well as the remaining Super Group shares i have.
Experienced investors will probably note the time at which my purchases were made (and probably nod knowingly to themselves). Yes, the timing was perfect. Which is why its better to start investing young; you can afford to wait for good timings. And timing is everything in investing.
