rago1: Successful investing takes patience and persistance I have certainly had the experience of selling a stock for another opportunity and seeing the one I sold pop

Same here. I sold VEN a day early and kissed a $25K profit goodbye. I sold SVL at a huge loss at 85 cents instead of holding on to $1.40, I held CMM thru the cease trade order losing $100K in profits, I sold RVM before the negative court decision in the .40s and missed out on its recent ride to .80, I sold RIO at .85 and recently bought back at 1.60, I even owned a bunch of GNH at .19 and sold at .28 when Hoov first made his public reccy.

Basically I could have become a millionaire by Xmas. As it stands I'm only a fraction of the way there.

But I still sold most positions at a profit, always cut my losses, and thus made a good return this year.

A renowned wise investor once said: "I never lost money taking a profit".

You'll never top-tick a sell, and you'll never bottom-tick a buy. It can't be done. So, there's no point in trying to be perfect. If a stock advances 50% and you're only in for 10% of that gain, you've still made a profit, and that's Investing Rule Number One. If you want to turn your $100K into one million, you can do it with a one-year 1000% (post-tax) profit, or over only 6 years making 50% per year, or 10 years at 30% per year. Whatever you choose, you'll get there anyway. No rush.