Adoph Hitler at the end of the second world war died or we highly suspected he died under uncertainty – did he commit suicide? was he taken out of the bunker and died in a foreign country? We think we know, but there were doubts because the idea was to end the war and not worry about Hitler. In the years that passed, the general public wondered what kind of man was Hitler to bring Germany out of the recession; to overtake most of the countries in Europe and fight against those that could. In this situation information about Hitler slowly started coming out and as the years passed, people wanted more information. In the 1980’s forty years after the war, from somebody’s attic books or diaries were found – could they be Hitler’s private thoughts. It turned out they were fakes, however Robert Harris wrote a book about Selling Hitler published by faber and faber, London, UK, 1986.

When the diaries came out they were offered to the newspapers of the day and the owners and editors had to make a decision were they the real thing. If the diaries were the real thing, more newspapers would be sold because people were and likely still are interested. The end of the war had left uncertainty and the owners of the newspapers hired known Hitler experts to see if they believed it was the real thing. The book described the details of thinking about the big headlines and story and what if they were wrong.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, most things in life have a degree of uncertainty attached to them. The marriage vows are for better or worse, although everyone hopes for the better. Often times research will tell you one way or the other depending on the situation. The more we know, the more we find out the more you do not know, however a decision needs to be made. In the stock market, we have perfect information looking backwards and a degree of uncertainity looking forward. One way to reduce the uncertainity is to invest in profitable companies which pay a dividend. If they can not pay the dividend, it is a clear sign to find alternatives.

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