AAII Journal > July 2006
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5 Memorable Mistakes and the Lessons I Learned

by John Deysher

As a mutual fund portfolio manager, once a year I review the stock market mistakes I made during the past year.

It’s a useful exercise. Mistakes occur for a variety of reasons including greed, fear and errors in reasoning, facts and judgment.

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About the author

John Deysher is president and portfolio manager of the Pinnacle Value Fund, a diversified, SEC-registered mutual fund specializing in the securities of small and micro-cap firms. He is a CFA charterholder and has managed equity portfolios for over 25 years. He lives and works in New York City and may be reached at deysher@pinnaclevaluefund.com.
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Once you realize you’ve made a mistake, your objective is twofold—first, to try to salvage the position and, secondly, to minimize the damage.

All investors like to talk about their winners, few about their losers. With this in mind, I’d like to share some of my most memorable mistakes I’ve made over the years.

Mistake #1: Bally Entertainment

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→ John Deysher is president and portfolio manager of the Pinnacle Value Fund, a diversified, SEC-registered mutual fund specializing in the securities of small and micro-cap firms. He is a CFA charterholder and has managed equity portfolios for over 25 years. He lives and works in New York City and may be reached at deysher@pinnaclevaluefund.com.

Discussion

Hind sight is 20:20. It always is easier to reflect on past actions and see how you could have acted differently. It is more difficult to visualize how to act when the problem/situation is out in front of you. That said, the author has made some excellent points that novice and even experienced stock investors should consider.

posted 10 months ago by Curt from Georgia

Always be well diversified. The good part of portfolio can cushion the small percentage of mistakes.

posted 10 months ago by Harold from Missouri

I would like to read more about 'thinking like a value investor' and 'thinking like a growth investor.'

posted 10 months ago by John from Kansas

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