Aussie Stocks are Pathetic, page-9

Wooooaaaaa - who got out of the wrong side of their beds today!

The ASX is materially different from the US markets, get over it. The past 10 - odd years have seen a focus on delivering a dividend yield at the expense of growth. The stocks I have held long term are doing very well, thank you. There are exceptions, of course, but even those have rewarded with exceptional divvies that cover capital losses (yes, I know, its a sad day when that's a good point!).

The current trend is to pull back on divvy payouts. We are seeing major companies reduce their payout from 70 - 120% to a more sustainable 40 - 60%. We should see capital appreciation as this retention of cash builds up.

Of course, if they don't use that cash to build the business, their SP will not budge (a la MGX).

As for fund managers: I don't touch them. Samsonrises got it right by pointing out they don't need to do anything to deliver a return. Why people hand their capital to fund managers just for those managers to charge them a fee on THEIR capital is beyond me. Managers' fees should be high and charged only on returns above some metric - ie, no return, or the same return as, say, the ASX, no fee - BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T EARNED IT!