My house, bought in 2004, still living in it but my last appraisal was @ + 335%.
Have done decent with investing, had one stock that I held on to for about six years that never appreciated, so I sold it. Based on what I could have invested that money in (index fund) that is a paper loss of about 75%. But that is the only stock investment I've ever made that lost money, my long terms average about 9% a year.
For short term I once bought a stock for a company that was already wound down, but still was trading because there was a lawsuit over the pension money, so the receivers hadn't finalized the dissolution.
The final (superior court) ruling was due in a few days, so I bought a few thousand shares @ $2.00/share. The gamble paid off, the company was awarded the money in the pension fund, and I was paid a dividend of $2.50 a share a month later.
Then the IP of the company remained as a final asset, another aircraft company bought that and I was forced to accept their offer of $4.00/share (once they have enough shares, they can force the remaining stockholders to sell. I held out but at 90% I had to accept their offer).
All that happened over a period of about 8 months, so my $2.00/share investment paid $2.50 dividend income and $4.00 of Capital Gains taxable income.
Then I made money on the tax side.
As Canada does not double-tax dividends (because they come from tax paid income) and because the calculation involves both adding the income from dividends and subtracting a tax credit, if your dividend income is below about $32,000/yr (mine easily was) you end up with a refundable tax credit. I can't remember how much that was but probably worked out to another $0.50 a share.
Then the $4.00 is taxable as a Capital Gain but you have a $750,000 lifetime exemption and I was well below that, so tax free. Had I paid Capital Gains on it it, half is exempt and half is added to your total income. Because your principal residence (the house you live in) is exempt from Capital Gains, I probably will never reach my exemption limit.
So, Paid $2.00 and earned (about) $3.00 in dividends and $4.00 (+$2.00) in stock return, total $5.00 net on a $2.00 investment.
Ended up about $20K in my pocket, after tax, over 8 months
Note: The pension dispute was between the union and the company over money made investing the pension money over a few decades versus the defined benefit the employees were entitled to. Nobody got stiffed for a pension.
