Years ago I embarked on a journey to study how individuals who succeeded in losing weight for long term did it. I then researched science behind how body regulated weight. I came to understand that most weight loss programs fail because programs are designed to disrupt body’s natural mechanisms. It is this disruption that creates battle where individual eventually gives up.

To lose weight safely and permanently, you have to understand a concept in body functioning called homeostasis. In simple words, homeostasis means balance. The body always tries to maintain a constant environment. Your weight, just like your blood pressure or body temperature, is kept at a constant level. This level is called your set point. If you changed your external environment, your body will adjust to keep internal environment stable. That is why a person in Alaska in middle of winter has same body temperature as when they go to Arizona in middle of summer.

It appears that I have a dislike for admitting that I could ever get it wrong and this explains why I sometimes can't take a loss. On other side of equation: if I was wrong and XYZ was not going to make me a fortune - then what could I do?

Okay I spotted one of my stocks in "Shares" magazine - I confess! I was just reading about all up-and-coming stars and there was this little snippet asking a question like: "Could this be a new Microsoft?". Now they may not have said that exactly, but it was enough to make me think XYZ was a good news story as its price will testify - at time(in 70's ). I mean it was there - it had to have some merit!

It was a miner and had a technology company in its portfolio and a percentage of another tech company and was doing very little in resources area because there was more hype in tech shares at time. It was a time when many miners were turning into tech companies. Can you visualize miners making their way to goldfields?

Well I was right into that - so I bought heaps and crazy part was that I was not going to sell something that had such a great future. Nearly $60 000 went into this company and I've still got it. Not because I am still in love, but because it's nearly worthless. It will be a reminder to me never to do that again!

How much is this RULE really worth to me? That's simple - without counting any other stock in my tech-wrecked portfolio, this RULE is worth $59 494.45 saved.

If I just add one more, an online retailer, which cost me $69 928.20, my total saving would be $129 422.65. So if someone had given me above rule to live by, I could have sold out early and kept most of $129 000.

The unloved by market, which included many of my startups have plummeted since tech boom - some went up like shooting starts, only to be blasted to pieces and fall back to Earth. You won't get directors coming out to say that market has put an outrageous price on this company or that one, and that really, there is no substance to back up price. However someone will notice that king is really naked and when they do there is no mercy from crowd.

I have heard say, "The market is always right", and maybe it's not a bad one to remember. Those that didn't participate in tech boom will have lost considerable money and those that fell in love with naked royalty will have lost their shirts.