Frank wrote:
> My personal opinion is that it depends on a lot of things, but
> primarily on your taxable income for the year.

> Buying before locks in the dividend amount which is very nice in this
> period of uncertainty, but you will be taxed on the dividends, whereas
> fund price gains can be held and only taxed when you sell the shares.

> Buying on a dip after (and remember that GCH dipped in Jan 2007 after
> they paid the dividend, not so much on the Ex or even record dates in
> Dec 2006, which I find strange but it is their history) has a slight
> tax advantage if you are in the top 3 or 4 U.S. income brackets
> (depending on other factors like deductions of course...).  But then
> you will face several uncertainties of 1) the U.S. market softening
> and 2) possible slowdown in the Chinese economy due to softening
> demand from the U.S. which, let's face it, buys most of the stuff
> China makes, and 3) regulatory risks with the 2008 People's Congress,
> which may pass regulations reigning in growth, imposing environmental
> regulations that increase the cost of business, etc.

> btw I am saying this for U.S. taxpayers.  I have no idea how taxes
> work in other countries.

> As usual I am simply giving my opinion and presenting the facts as I
> see them.  You should probably talk to your tax professional to assess
> the costs of taxes on these dividends for you personally before making
> a decision.  I can tell you though that I have had GCH for a while and
> did add to it this year before the announcement, and I intend to hold
> and will most likely add to it depending on how much it dips and any
> resolutions or regulations made by the People's Congress of 2008.  I
> failed to add to GCH in January 2007 at $22 and change and again
> during the summer at $26 and change, and certainly wish I had.  Had I
> bought some at $22 that would have been a 11.30/22 = 51%+ dividends
> for those shares -- an unthinkable bargain.

> Guess you just can't win them all.

> One more thing to consider though is that this round of dividends does
> seem abnormally high and unusual for any fund (excluding high risk
> high gain hedge funds which limit purchase eligibility by net worth).
> I believe it is in part because they changed managers this year and
> the new manager reshuffled some of the holdings and sold off some of
> the previous manager's picks, resulting in (possibly unintentional)
> taking of profits.  I haven't thought about what this might mean and
> will review the holdings lists for the months before and after the
> changing of the guard and some of the companies therein before making
> a dcision on whether or not to pick up more.