I sold some MSFT options that had appreciated 1000% to pay cash for a Supra Turbo in '99. Had I held on to them much longer, they would have gone underwater and expired worthless.

Same thing w/ my CS - I paid it off last spring since I was nervous about the market and figured putting it into a high-yielding risk free "investment" (paying off the loan) was a good diversification strategy.

I used to have a bogey of 100% annual returns in the market, and was usually pretty successful. I learned a few lessons along the way, no longer feel so invincible, and don't have as much time on my side to make up losses, so I'm now more conservative in my investment strategy.