2005 June: La Manga: Exit decisions postponed and position increased. Amazon tanking did not mean I had to stay away forever

Here I am in La Manga Spain in June 2005. I bought $16000 of AMZN at 38 in February 2005 and sold them now in June 2005 at 35 at 10% loss which seems like a good move at the time but over next six months they went up 20%. And two years later had gone up 100%.  And 13 years later had gone up 5000% meaning my investment would have been become 840,000 or  63,000 a year profit

Jesus now with all this cash, I don´t know whether to do nothing tomorrow on the stock market or go all in. I want to bet on NTES and CTSH but I am scared after seeing Amazon tank 20% last week after weak results. What if that happens to NTES or CTSH if I bet 40,000. I will be down at least eight thousand dollars or sixteen thousand if I use leverage. If I don´t bet, I will probably miss my last opportunity for a a big profit this quarter. Should I wait for another three months or gamble. If I am wrong I will wait a month and then get out like I should have done with EXM which shot through the roof when it hit my stop loss cover a week after buying it. 

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”

Oh if only I could cash in the profits from one good bet then I could justify visiting Yaya and renting a place in Caracas for the next few months. I could also think about Australia next year for the winter or Thailand or Venezuela every year after that for the winter.

Lesson or rule learned:

a. Markets may move south on a good stock you should hold on to or add to.

b. A bad quarter for markets may move south a stock you believe should be held long term because management are still on the right track to becoming a monopoly.

Positive Options:

1. Add 30% to your position when your long favoured stock loses 20% after a bad quarter.

2. Convert some paper profit to real when markets are good. Pre earnings announcement, sell all your holding in your favoured long stock. And buy back with 30% of bankroll at a 20% discount on news of a bad quarter.