Friday 1 August 2008

Dividends

Schroder, Collonial, AMPCI, Challenger, Blackrock, Perpetual... All the funds have now paid their dividends to shareholders. The return is pretty good, having in mind the current conditions of the market. The dividends partly reduce the potential loss caused by the drop in the prices.
This is a bonus I haven't expected. Nice present for the holidays. :)

Sitting Still

There's a brilliant line as a conclusion in one of Vanguard texts:

"no-one should underestimate the effort involved in sitting still"

It summarizes the agony of the current moment. Investors and traders read about "buy low, sell high" stuff. But, practically, most people buy high and sell low. To avoid those situations, one has to overcome emotions when everyone's buying or selling and just wait. But waiting is anything but dull and boring. It is one of the hardest things to do.
It is quite depressing to see your life savings drop 20% or more. That makes years of one's life disappear in a very short time frame. Hope that things will be better is the only thing one has to sail through such times. But it is not easy. :)