Dividends have to be reinvested or of course they do not figure into the compounded gains. Compounded gains are what makes long term investing really profitable.
But if you don't count them, then what are they? Clearly they are some kind of gain. How can you ignore them, they are real.
Mutual funds reinvest dividends automatically for the investor, but I have to do it manually for myself. Since dividends pay a month or so after declaring, that is why I usually runs my accounts about 102% invested if I only want to be 100% invested. That way when the dividend is actually paid, my margin goes back to almost zero.
If you don't reinvest your dividends then you are in effect taking money out of your investment. And of course if your investment is reduced then your total gains will be reduced also.
If you don't believe dividends count towards gains, then we really have nothing to discuss. Any analysis that doesn't include dividends is of no value to me.
Trade the Charts and not the Heart - Expect the trend to
continue until it doesn't - Realtime is the real deal
