The big ones that got away

It's painful when you miss your chance to make a fortune, but you can keep playing the stockmarket game as long as you live

- Marcus Padley

I think everyone who has ever traded in the stockmarket remembers the ones that got away. I, for instance, once held 250,000 Oil Search at 50c, sold them at 60c; they went to 950c. I also once held 50,000 Zinifex at $2. Sold them at $2.40; they hit $21.60. That’s before we get to the 200,000 Davnet at 40c. They went to $6 and the 300,000 Voicenet at 38c – they hit $3.80.

Hindsight really is a wonderful thing in the stockmarket because it’s empirical, absolute, gloriously accurate and painful. When you look back, you can say, “I had my chances, I held that stock, it could have been.” I could have made a million here and a million there and, most tortuous of all, all you had to do was absolutely nothing but hold.