Another year in my training program has come to an end. I find I am gaining some proficiency, and perhaps a dangerous level of confidence! Certainly, 2013 was my best year since I started this game.
The year was marked by big gains on the US indexes with the broadly based S&P 500 up 29.6%, and the narrowly listed DOW up strongly as well at 26.3%. We had a good year, but nothing close to those numbers as the TSX was up 9.6%.
I had a great year as my gains matched my percentage quota, however I had reduced my capital investment to only about 50% of my accounts, so I did not gain the dollar amount I have established as a quota. Perhaps that may play as, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained!", but I prefer to see it as being able to sleep at night! Certainly, there is no way to know that further investments would have paid off at the same rate. In retrospect, I can see how I would have done better if I had maintained discipline to operate strictly within the guidelines of my strategy, so, I enter 2014 with renewed resolution to follow my plan! I do well on the buying end, but am always reluctant to sell, and that often results in less income that I should have gained. I feel that my prayers for wisdom and blessing have been granted; perhaps I need to focus more requests on discipline!
In 2014, I plan to continue my policy of continually scrutinizing my plan, and investigating alternatives that may prove more worthwhile in a changing economic environment. My current focus is on dividend paying stocks that are exhibiting growth. I play them with a 10% Trailing Stop, and am finding this results in little trading action, but good gains.
Happy New Year!
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