Jason's a guy who got excited about Tesla and put everything into it. He got unlucky in that it didn't go up when it should have, but was pretty much flat for years. He got lucky in that he stuck it out and was there for the 2020 boom in TSLA. He especially got lucky that the great product was being made by what's turning out to be a great business. There's really nothing to be learned from that. There are no doubt dozens of Jasons just at Google who did more or less the same thing and made little or nothing or lost their shirts. If Dave keeps at his search for a few decades, he'll discover it's all survivorship bias. That is if he interviews the other guys, the ones who lost, and discovers they give the same answers.
Me, I've lost a ton of money on TSLA over the years. And I've made a ton of money. Right now, things are very positive. But a year ago, things were very negative. I don't think I'm any different now, nor did I change anything significant about how I was betting on TSLA, nor is Tesla particularly different. All that's really different is that Tesla's last decade of hard work is turning it into an overnight success.
I agree.
I have some merits, but they dwarf in comparison to the sheer luck to have been able to find this forum, learn from others's expertise, and stick to the advice of not selling.
At the moment, I'm the only one I know who bought and held. The guy who got me into Tesla (and had 10x shares than me, and now a Model S) has sold everything in the window of time between covid in Italy and covid in US. We had an "head start" about what was coming: I tried my luck with 7 shares, sold well but bought back only 5. He never did.
I've preached Tesla far and wide for years, I even wrote articles about that online and on paper. I am a nobody, and nobody listened to me. Friends and family didn't buy, and everyone just told me to sell when I was +30%.
When Tesla will be more established and "mainstream" in 5-10 years, I'll be viewed as a genius investor and people will ask for my advice, and unfortunately I will have none, because I only understand one company, and I can't offer no wisdom about anything else than a "buy and hold".
I'm just happy that my father bought a few shares on Friday, it's his first and only stock, but I basically forced him ;-)