At the end of 2008, I was in the same situation that I've seen others of your subscribers describe. I lost 28% of my retirement money in '08. Quite a bit was in gold stocks.

By mid February this year, I had become a subscriber and did the following. I set up a "Jack Chan style" traders log for all but a few core holdings. I set the entry prices to the closing prices as of 12/31/08 to eliminate the emotions I associated with the paper losses at that point. In other words, I accepted the loss at that point. I set stop orders for each stock at the most recent reversal, and moved them up for the stocks that went up. At the same time, I allocated 20% of my total to follow your trades.

The result is that, at mid year, my portfolio is up 13% for the year, while I've raised my cash position from 42% to 80%. I've become more disciplined and have more money to allocate to your recommendations, as they come along.

I've learned a lot from you. Thanks much.

B.G.