In the book Animal Fakes and Frauds by Peter Dance, Sampson, Low Berkshire, 1975,  the author reveals some of the shapes and sizes of the animals that generations have discussed. Mr. Dance worked at the British Museum (Natural History) and would come across these animals in the course of his work. In all things in life, when people are asked exactly what did you see? and what do your remember? for most of us, unless we trained ourselves, the answers will have variation. If you believe you are an exception, next time you are in lunchroom setting or restaurant, pick someone out of the crowd, allow them to sit down and describe the person to the person you are having lunch with without viewing the person you are describing. How much do you remember of the person? Most of us remember something, but every detail? This was the case with the animals fakes and frauds, generally the people remember something but in the short time they saw the animal, other features were embellished. Soon word was out and more than likely the person, in their recollections, felt the description was accurate. Unless someone is trained in that area of the animal kingdom there was no reason not to believe it and much of it could have been true.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, as investors we have access to information, but we like to be told a good story in order to invest our money. The stories often tell of the years the stock or the fund did very well. Is this the year which the exchange is going to repeat itself with higher stock prices? The truth is on the stock market, the best answers are looking back at something that has already happened. Looking forward the best answer is I do not know, but we a method to achieve more money is to invest in quality stocks which consistently earn a profit. If a company consistently makes money, then the multiple of times the earnings trades at will go higher. Add a return of dividends and the money returning to you is not a fake or fraud just good sound investing.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.