Cheap? Hmm, I have a drawer full of "cheap". As for this baby...

Cheap? Hmm, I have a drawer full of "cheap". As for this baby I've still got a very modest amount. Ok, long post you've drawn it out of me, I'll do another catharsis for you

Why aren't I buying? First, I'm looking at individual stocks again, and have had some crackers in the last month too I'm happy with.

For my diversified exposure via CTN, I think I'm simply afraid that their performance has been ordinary. Most of the share price return the last few years has been discount narrowing from what I can determine. Not upset by any stretch, Ive had very good returns + franking/ dividend. But going forward I am hesitant as to the skill of these vs the range of other microcap funds now out there.

This page http://www.asx.com.au/documents/products/ASX_Funds_Monthly_Update_-_September_15.pdf shows their discount is worse than most other LICs, inc all the microcap ones. We've gone from $1.13 to $0.94 plus the divvie - the question is will it bounce back or has the market lost confidence. We never seemed to get past the dollar did we. It just hangs around there.

In the June quarter report (released 6 August)- they said on page 12 MICROCAP OUTLOOK The outlook for micro cap industrials is solid ...and then they got hammered. So I'm uncertain of their ability to get the big sector and market calls right.

I can't find their investment portfolio performance anymore (hmm, why is that) but I get this through Morningstar http://www.morningstar.com.au/s/documents/InstitutionalSectorSurvey_201507.pdf and if you go to page 4 you can see how ordinary their performance is against other small managers. This is not a good track record at all. Almost dead last over every single time period. Comparatively, they are dud managers.

With SGH, well, I'm not really bothered by losing, that happens, and we're probably above water on it anyway. My concern is that maybe these guys aren't very good...and there's plenty of other choices....

I'm extremely keen to read the September quarter report. But then here we are, end of month in a month while small resources are up that 12% and where is the report? Will the Oct NTA be out before the Sept q report? The Q report will be irrelevent by then. I'm really keen to know what the portfolio has done this month, alas, we don't hear much from them anymore

I'm all happy for the CEO to write articles, but lets take the first 2 paragraphs from the main news story on their site. It reads:

The recent market volatility is a timely reminder for investors to review their portfolios and expectations of future returns. Key questions investors should ask themselves are: Is my portfolio performing how it is designed? Should I be targeting income or growth? Is the recent market correction a time to accumulate?

This. No- I don't want them to be asking me to review their portfolio, or to ask me whether I want income or growth. This is my accelerator play. If I want income I'll go buy a term deposit. Don't ask me, tell me. Tell my how is the portfolio performing in these very volatile months.

Then a few sentences later I read this

Coupled with this defensive tilt, in an environment of sluggish growth, the portfolio should also look to maximise income over growth

What...the...????. Srsly. I'm in a MICROCAP fund. MICROCAP. I'm lost for letters as I type this. What do they think we are investing in CTN for? They think we want them to chase yield????

Actually. I think I've just made my decision eerrtt mmyy ffriend. Yep, article says this a few sentences later

Looking forward, our portfolios are set to remain defensive with underweights to Metals, Mining and Energy.

So basically, I buy because I think something is going up and the sector is biting. They don't believe the sector if firing and are defensive. So the answer to your question is, why would I buy more CTN and be left behind?

First time I've actually put a sell sentiment on CTN

I'll keep watching eerrtt, and hope I don't regret this, but even if CTN goes up, the other stocks I'm holding/ will buy, will probably go up more.

Good luck buddy