ING through whom I trade through has locked all the pension accounts including the trading aspect for 2 weeks while they do 'administration'. IMO, they hid the announcement in a multipage email 3 weeks ago, jumbled in with other non relevent information. They also placed a notice at the bottom of a page on their website, a page which I do not normally access. Am I pissed off! Will close my account with them asap. When I first phoned because I couldn't transact a trade, they made an excuse it was because of the government policy, ie, wished to blame govt. After finding no information about it online elsewhere, I phoned again, then they admitted it was ING who needed 2 weeks to do admin duties. Basically I told them they appear incompetent and must run a very archaic system to need to freeze everyone's accounts for 2 weeks. Excuse: "oh there is a lot of work we need to do".
The Aussie market inspires very little confidence atm. Goes hand in hand with the gummint, very weak. One small consolation is ING have unfrozen the accounts, but without advising me. Decided to bail out of a number of positions. Just now sold; ACX, ALU, ARB, CHC, CGF, LLC, MSB Bought ASL. All up lost a bit of money, about 5% on average on those positions. Not good but will have to wear it. Will sit pat for a while now. Holdings atm, ASL, FLT, LNG, MLX, ORG, PPT, SFR, WHC, WOR A Problem encountering is am busy shifting house so a bit difficult concentrating.
Have decided to go back to my old intentions; trade rarely, wait for opportunities and don't attempt to create them. Like a lion on the plains, wait, stalk, pounce. Eg, 5 trading opportunities a year with a high win rate is better for me than multiple stabs at a running herd. Currently waiting for gold to turn up again.
Sold ASL, was not happy with price action behaviour today near market closing time. Took a small loss. Have been out of gold positions now coming on nearly 6 weeks, patiently awaiting a buy signal. Time is not right yet but maybe soon. My wife is very careful with money, always checks the receipts for errors and attempts as best as she is able to save a buck here or there. Were she to save $10 on a deal, she would be very happy. In the meantime, my shares positions can have swings up or down of several thousand dollars a day, not at all uncommon, it's basically a daily occurance. I am very mindful of the fact, if my wife is diligent in order to save us a few dollars, I need to be more diligent with the large amounts of money I bet on the market as it has a far greater impact.
I have to admit, I've lost the plot just recently. Lost focus on my game plan which is to specialize. If I hold too many positions across a smattering of sectors I lose my concentration. As well as that, my original game plan is buy the major dips on key sectors and not attempt to take random opportunistic trades. Australia is a Resourses rich country and this, when the times are right, is when stocks fly through the stratosphere, the occasions are not frequent, but they are worth waiting for. The Aussie market is very heavily weighted in mining stocks, possibly more so than any other world market than perhaps Russia. Banking for example, these too fly, but in the current financial climate, these along with health have already run hard and just make me nervous. The risk is too great I will take a clobbering to my portfolio. Anyhow, probably gold's turn next and I'll hit it quite hard when the time comes.
My wife is Asian, go figure. They say you can you can take the person out of Asia, but you cant take the Asian out of the person. Love my wife, she is very precious.
Mine is scottish and english. She knows how to bargain and count the pennies. She can make money and save money. I am truely blessed. Many women just want to spend like crazy. She is a people person. I am native American. I don't need much. I am not a people person but prefer the solitude...fishing..reading..trading..beach.
I'm Dutch born but lived all my life in NZ and Australia. Hunting was my predominant sport in NZ, deer, pig, goat and I prefered hunting on my own for deer especially, much higher success rate when quietly stalking in bare feet, when getting close to the prey. These days I would not consider hunting as a sport, have turned into a softy and embrace wild life. Love fishing (more armchair fisherman) Today we get the keys to a new house, moving close to the beach in outer Perth, Western Australia, deep water, not far from a sheltered boat ramp, I own 2 kayaks, one has a sail which I imported in from USA (Falcon Sail) Toying/mulling with the idea of making a room available for holiday short stay ET traders who wish to visit.