It’s better to travel than arrive

Sunday, 20th June 2010 16:02 - by Boredmum

To quote Robert Louis Stevenson... "Little do ye know your own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour." The meaning being that ‘the journey is the reward’. I have seen this many times before and have learned from it. Certainly, the most painful example of this for me was Tower Resources (TIDM code: TRP). Around this time last year I was fortunate enough to be sitting on a couple of thousand pounds profit, only to be sitting on a similar loss with it quite quickly as the journey was over and profits were not banked. This time I was more successful, having learned lessons from past mistakes. In the case of Encore Oil (TIDM code: EO.), I travelled from 22p to 26p and then got back in at 31.5p and sold at 36.5p, before the anticipated results came out. Similarly with Nautical Petroleum (TIDM code: NPE), travelling from 116p to 145p. In the case of Encore Oil, I just felt because of the rise already factored in then the risk versus reward was no longer viable. I had 10,000 shares and it was too much for me to risk on the drop. I had fewer shares and value held in NPE and I was originally much happier to risk this. When the Monday came and still no news appeared, I figured that it would be silly to risk a profit and just sold. As I type, the current prices are EO. at 29.25p and NPE at 130p so, in hindsight, I did the right thing. Why not just enjoy the journey. Who wants to be disappointed when they arrive?