Changeable wrote:GoSeigen
Then why not sell them all? Surely, the small number remaining would be just as volatile?
Yes, that's right, they will be just as volatile. However, it's about risk control. You have a liability which you want to meet without risking a large shortfall. A small shortfall might be acceptable though, especially if the risk of the fall also exposes you to the possibility of a big rise.
If you sold 90% of the required Lloyds shares now, and price of the remainder fell by 50% you'd only be 5% short next March -- not a disaster, just sell a few more than you anticipated. OTOH if LLOY doubles, then you have made 10% in six months, which no-one would cry about! In all circumstances the bulk of the cash you need is safe and ready (and can maybe even earn 1% in a savings account).
90% BTW is a figure I plucked out of the air. You would adjust this according to how painful a shortfall in your funds might be, if in 6 months time LLOY had crashed, say, 50%, which is unlikely but not unheard of! (It's happened to LLOY four times
since the end of the banking crisis in Mar 2009, by my estimation.)
Yes true, but then I definitely loose the final and possible special dividend.
The final special dividend, which may or may not come, is already priced in by the market. So you would not "lose" it. It is already incorporated in the price.
I'm an optimist by nature and if I wasn't, why ever would I buy shares?
It's not that I have fallen in love with Lloyds, but I will give those shares that I intend to sell just a little longer. Maybe I will be sorry, but it wouldn't be the first time!
That's your choice and I personally think the odds are tipped in your favour. I have also been wrong many a time. Sold a couple of shares last week to "tidy up" my accounts and both promptly rose 20%
![Sad :-(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
GS