Fish Oil and Web sites

During the tech bubble, I bought shares of Zapata, a company known for selling fish oil. It announced it would be purchasing Internet sites. The stock went crazy, and I bought in. This is an example of the craziness that was going on. How dumb is that? Buying a fish oil company that was going to acquire Web sites? After unloading many stocks after the bubble burst, I had more than $35,000 in losses that are slowly being used to offset income.

— Primo, online

The Fool Responds: That was indeed a time of investing euphoria and "irrational exuberance." Zapata was an animal byproducts company that also made sausage casings. It would appear that, like many investors of the day, Zapata didn't want to be left out of the skyrocketing prices of many Internet-related companies. Selling after a bubble bursts isn't always the best thing to do, as many fallen firms will recover, eventually. It's best to recognize bubbles early and to get out early. Learn more in John Kenneth Galbraith's book "A Short History of Financial Euphoria" (Penguin, $14).

Do you have an emb arrassing lesson learned the hard way? Boil it down to 100 words (or less) and send it t o The Motley Fool c/o M y Dumbest In vestment. Got one that worked? Submit to My Smartest Investment. If we print yours, you'll win a Fool's cap!