Some of you may have noticed the significant declines in VIPS and BABA. As I told you a few weeks ago, I was surprised by the outsize gains in VIPS and advised you to take some profits if you have them in this stock. And in this past week, that proved to be prescient as VIPS (and BABA) have declined because of a large hedge fund being forced to liquidate their holdings due a large margin call. I am still positive on both stocks, and would advise holding them if you have them. On BABA, be advised that the Chinese government has had some run-ins with the founder Jack Ma, but I doubt that the government will push much further, since BABA is a key source of both pride and revenue for the country. As for the rest of the stocks, stay the course, and I believe you will be rewarded over the long term. And also note that the fund is diversified into 20 stocks giving a 5% weighting to each stock, thus lessening the impact of any one stock crushing the performance of the entire fund.
As for the income fund, not much to say here other than again – hold on, and collect those dividends. If you are not yet retired, re-invest them in additional stock and you will be amazed when you are finally ready to retire as you will see the power of compounding. Einstein called compound interest the 8th wonder of the world!
Well, folks, that’s all for now. As always, happy investing, and please feel free to comment or email me directly.