The anti-picker

I know, I know, obsessing over the stock market's short-term fluctuations isn't investing, it's speculating, but geez -- it's tough to feel any confidence about one's decisions in the stock market at the moment.

Take my latest move (editor's joke: please!) of putting the remainder of my RRSP contribution for 2007 into Nasdaq-listed asset manager American Capital Strategies earlier this week. I liked the company's history of steady-but-significant capital gains, but I fell hard for that juicy dividend yield, so I jumped in on Monday.

What's happened since? You mean besides having the equivalent of an entire year's worth of distributions knocked off the company's market cap, you mean? Not much.

Truth be told, I don't think it's all that dire. I still don't see how and why the subprime boogeyman is applicable here, although the company did run across some nasty news about a bankrupt subsidiary to get the slide started. But ultimately, I'm really just venting here. I have nothing drastic planned, whether it's liquidating the position or increasing it. Staying in it for the long haul is just how I roll, as the kids say.

I shouldn't actually feel too bad about myself -- after all, everything's down. The other thing I was considering for the funds was plowing it into BMO, but it too hit a new 52-week low today.

We're all in this together. The sun'll come out tomorrow, and all that...