Biggest Regrets of 2007

With 2007 quickly coming to an end, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on my investment activities for the year and come up with a list of my biggest regrets of the year:

• Thinking that I was smarter than the market.
  The most explicit example of this would be Timminco (TIM-T). I had become aware of this stock when it was trading in the three to four dollar range. At that point, I had done some preliminary research on the company and determined that it was too expensive. Perhaps more importantly, in retrospect, is the fact that I had also read that silicon (the main future driver for this company) would soon be replaced by other elements in newer solar power technologies. With that in mind, I thought this stock was over-hyped. TIM ended the day at $21.91. Enough said.
  
  
• Not investing in stocks in clear uptrends like I had in 2006.
  This cost me dearly by missing out on some impressive gains this year.
  
  
• Missing my chance to re-enter / add to positions during the August meltdown.
  Between being pre-occupied with my new job and not having the guts to go all-in when the casino is burning down, prevented me from making over forty percent in several of my favourite stocks.
  
  
• Not letting my winners fly until the trend is broken.
  Cashing in my profits too early resulted in not getting the full benefits of the rise of stocks like Thompson Creek (TCM-T), Hanfeng (HF-T), Migao (MGO-T), Oilexco (OIL-T), and Silvercorp (SVM-T) amongst others.
  
  
• Not cutting my losses early enough.
  Call it my abundant optimistic outlook on life or stupidity, but by not having an exit strategy when things go wrong resulted in my losses killing most of my gains this year. Thanks for nothing Nova Uranium (NUC-X) and Liponex (LPX-T).
  
  
• Not taking advantage of seasonal trends like I had earlier noted to myself.

My next post will be on my goals / resolutions for 2008. Stay tuned!