Luck

Sunday, 21st November 2010 15:17 - by Boredmum

I remember (about) 3 years ago buying a second-hand car. Well, I had quite a few little problems with this car at first. I felt like I was never away from the garage, getting repairs fulfilled under warranty. One day, sitting in the car showroom, I was talking to an older gentleman. I explained that I seemed to be having awful bad luck, both with the car and with other things at that time. He explained; ‘Luck comes in waves. Throughout life, that is the way it happens. There are times when you are incredibly lucky and others when all your bad luck comes at once. You just have to ride the wave as it will pass and good times will return.’ At the moment, I seem to be having a lot of luck in the stock-market. Now, I would love to say that my good achievements of late have been down to skill, but I am very much aware that most of it just seems to be down to luck. Take, for instance, buying Berkeley Mineral Resources (TIDM code: BMR). I bought purely as a short-term trade, being fully committed elsewhere. So, I looked at my Portfolio for something to sell; looking for something with a tight spread that wasn’t likely to move anytime soon so that I could buy it back again. I choose Northacre (TIDM code: NTA), only to then watch it fall from my 139p ‘Sell’ to 115p - as BMR rose from around 5.55p to 7.4p. Now, I would love to say that it was good trading, but it was purely luck and I am aware that I have been experiencing a good bit of luck this past month. At the moment, I am trying to take advantage as I know it won’t last forever. I feel that a lot of good results in the markets are down to luck. Sometimes all the research in the world won’t protect you from a negative piece of news, just as at other times you can have some incredibly unexpected good news. It may even be a case of just being in the right place at the right time. How many of us have held a stock for ages, only for it to take off the moment they sell?! If you are having a period of luck, then please make sure you take advantage before it runs out.