[james4beach]

I hesitated to post this because I don't want to conflate gambling with investment, but I do have an actual "gambling" portfolio (money that I expect to lose) and there are probably many gamblers among us. So I'll share my portfolio, because posting it publicly forces some accountability, a bit of public embarrassment -- which is good.

First I should clarify that my investments are things I actually expect to make money on. High-risk growth stocks, TSX large caps, index ETFs, gold, etc are all legitimate investments which are meant to preserve and grow my capital.

Gambles, in comparison ... the story for each of these is the same: mostly for entertainment, a complete speculative gamble, but on something which I think which has a chance of being quasi-legitimate, which could attract more investors money. For example I think Bitcoin is a worthless joke, but there's a chance it could become a legitimate asset. Similarly I think Bombardier is likely worthless, but under the right conditions (fingers crossed), might actually regain share value.

My gambles (I expect to lose this money) -

AAL , $600
Bitcoin, $600
BBD.B , $900

 

[james4beach]

Anyone else interested in sharing their gambles?

 

[m3s]

Galaxy Digital yesterday

I'd heard of them for awhile but couldn't find enough information. Apparently based in NY but trades on the TSX. With the US seemingly allowing institutions to hold crypto now there's a virtual summit taking place next week to teach companies how to manage the accounting and legalities

Complete gamble for regulatory risk

 

[nathan79]

I have some crypto coins I should really just dump, but it's more interesting to hang onto them and hope for a pump, then dump.

Bitcoin, I don't really consider a gamble as I expect the value to increase over the long haul (5-10 years).

I also hold some beaten down stocks like BPF.UN and CGX. They weren't considered gambles when I bought them, but it's a gamble that they will survive until things get back to normal.

 

[Money172375]

My son gave me some $ for his first trade. PSYK etf. He said his time horizon is 20 years. He researched it a lot and thinks it’s the next big thing in medicine. Even if he loses it all....he now knows a bit about DCA, MERs, efficient frontier, trading commissions.
he also got his first T4 ever. Took us 5 mins to do his taxes on studiotax. Been a good week of education at home during lockdown.

 

[Money172375]

Personally, I did all my gambling about 20-25 years. EVERY tech/mining stock I bought went to zero. My brokerage account has about a dozen stocks that have been delisted. No capitol loss opportunity since I lost all my records and a number of them changed tickers many times. Agh! Also bought Nortel at $5....it can’t go lower, can it? Also bought Bombardier for $5...before the reverse split.

my favourite was USA video...which was rumoured to get in bed with Blockbuster so we could watch movies at home without a DVD.....don’t think the word streaming existed. Was up about $20,000 and held on, all the way down to zero....accumulating got more as it fell.

I’ll stick to blue chips, VBAL and VGRO for now.

 

[james4beach]

Personally, I did all my gambling about 20-25 years. EVERY tech/mining stock I bought went to zero. My brokerage account has about a dozen stocks that have been delisted. No capitol loss opportunity since I lost all my records and a number of them changed tickers many times. Agh! Also bought Nortel at $5....it can’t go lower, can it? Also bought Bombardier for $5...before the reverse split.

Sorry to hear that but I think this is very common. Don't feel bad.

On one hand I feel very stupid about my holdings above, but they really are entertaining. The worst case is that I lose $2,000.

 

[m3s]

Personally, I did all my gambling about 20-25 years. EVERY tech/mining stock I bought went to zero.

I have a mining stock at zero hah. I was wondering if I can get it off my account but it does remind me I shouldn't gamble

 

[MrMatt]

Gambling

BABA
Insignificant amounts of Dogecoin, Litecoin, Monero. Never did get off my chair to get that ethereum.

 

[m3s]

Never did get off my chair to get that ethereum.

Check out cardano. It's like a 3rd gen and about to launch smart contracts. Lacks apps and developers so the question is whether they migrate or wait for eth2

 

[MrMatt]

Check out cardano. It's like a 3rd gen and about to launch smart contracts. Lacks apps and developers so the question is whether they migrate or wait for eth2

Well the question is will it be "better" than eth2?

 

[badfish]

t.eglx, t.flt, cciv, nakd (wsb fun). I like to gamble and occasionally hit. Am somewhat bummed I sold my GME gamble in November when it went from 4 bucks too 6 and I made 50% in two weeks - very good gamble no doubt, but man if I had held it!

 

[cliffsecord]

Recently I started dabbling in some more growth stocks. I’m not sure if they are gambles, but they are much smaller and riskier than my core dividend growth stocks.

XBC. I was made aware of this when it was 70 cents. Watched it, read about it and finally bought it $2. So far so good!!!

Last week I bought XPEL. I personally got my car fully wrapped with it this year and then did more research on it. Lots of cars to wrap as car paint starts to get worse due to environmental concerns.

It’s usually a bad sign when I’m feeling good about my investments!!

 

[james4beach]

I wonder what is a "reasonable" amount of money to put into very high risk / gambling positions. How do you decide this?

What's strange to me is that when I go to Las Vegas, I gamble with maybe $100 or $200 at most. That's a fun time, sit at the tables, talk to people, get free drinks.

But here, I've got $2100 at risk which is much more.

I deliberately do this gambling in non-registered accounts because I think there's a good chance of capital loss. So then it's not a total waste, I could carry that capital loss.

 

[milhouse]

BCE years ago to try to take advantage of when they were being courted by OTPP and then the deal fell through. Good long term hold though and part of the reason I started building a dividend portfolio.
SNC when they were hit with legal troubles. This turned out to be a winning bet but I didn't know when to get out so it eventually ended up turning into a loser after their financials went to hell.
RIM/BB. I bought it after it was beaten down and drank the koolaid that John Chen would turn the company around. But it was dead money for years and I eventually dumped it. Of course I wish I held it until now. lol

One realization that I've come to terms with is that I'm willing to put only so much on "a bet", say $1000. But the bets I'm making realistically at most might double my money and at best might quadruple my money. If I turn $1000 into $4000, obviously that's a win but it's not life changing nor would it even get me excited. It'd likely have to get into the 25:1 return range before it'd be exciting and I'm not really tuned into spot those opportunities.

 

[m3s]

Well the question is will it be "better" than eth2?

It's lead by an ethereum co-founder and they also worked on eth classic to understand it. Having used both systems cardano is definitely far better. The question is whether the developers/users stay with what they know or migrate to a new system (and this depends how fast/smooth eth2 rolls out vs cardano etc)

 

[newfoundlander61]

My worst holding is Suncor but do plan on holding it long term and collect its dividends. But my entire portfolio is doing nicely.

 

[MrMatt]

well I think a better eth might make sense.
If Cardano is a better technology, I might play with it, but remember the market doesn't always choose the best technology. Apparently some people prefer to use Apple and Bing.

 

[m3s]

well I think a better eth might make sense.
If Cardano is a better technology, I might play with it, but remember the market doesn't always choose the best technology. Apparently some people prefer to use Apple and Bing.

Yes it's a network effect/ecosystem/first mover vs a newer generation scenario. Next few years will decide but likely both will coexist

Apple performs better on benchmarks even with lower specs. It's a no brainer for the average person who value user experience

 

[agent99]

I wonder what is a "reasonable" amount of money to put into very high risk / gambling positions. How do you decide this?

One person's gambling might be another's smart investing. So no point in quoting percentages. I have bought many high yield corporate bonds with ratings of 3L or even no rating. Some would have called that gambling, but my thoughts were that those companies would be around until at least the maturity of the bonds. GMAC/Ford Credit come to mind.

When Income Trusts were in vogue, I had about 10-15% in those (actually most in one diversified CEF) IIRC, I bought at about $9.00. Collected double digit distributions for years. At one point CEF went briefly to about $18. Sold a bit at a time on the way down and when it closed shop got my initial $9.00 back. I got a lot of criticism on the forums from more conservative investors, but it was one of my better investments!

On the other hand, I also bought mining stocks. Established miners may be OK, but start ups almost never make the initial investor any money. I have several at $0.00 to prove that.

One miner I still have is the original Shore Gold (SGF) which is actually a diamond project. Now trades as DIAM. I bought at $2.00. It went to about $7.00 (promoted/pumped?). Never sold. Now is at a recent high ($0.22) RioTinto is now involved and investors still hope that they will get something out of it. They do have a huge diamond resource. But economics are suspect. I don't expect to get much out of it. I later bought Rio as well. It has gained and my overall DIAM/RIO "investments" are now about break even. SGF/DIAM no doubt a gamble. Rio not.

A gamble that worked out, was buying Equinox warrants years ago for next to nothing for a proposed copper mine in North-West Zambia. I forget the actual numbers, but when Barrick eventually bought us out, I had made about $80k!
The mine was developed and is reasonably successful, I believe.

My gambling days are over. I did most of that in either my RRSP/RRIF or TFSA. Never in my wife's accounts. Guess whose accounts have the better performance