A REBOUND on the sharemarket has delivered Australians strong investment gains, but many mum-and-dad investors are missing out on much of the windfall.
Shares have shrugged off the worries of last month’s Brexit vote, and a News Corp Australia analysis found that more than half of the nation’s 200 biggest stocks have jumped at least 20 per cent since February.
One-third of these shares climbed more than 30 per cent — including ear implant maker Cochlear (up 44%), Origin Energy (47%), pizza company Domino’s (49%) and BHP offshoot South32 (62%).
However, traditional favourites such as Telstra, Woolworths and the Commonwealth Bank have climbed just 5 per cent from February’s lows, and these are where investors put the majority of their money.
Share specialists say while the popular blue chips generally pay healthy dividends, that income will be eaten away by a share price that is falling or growing slower than the overall market. They say it is wise to diversify — holding a mixture of eight-to-15 stocks of different sizes and sectors.
“The problem with individual investors is they can’t let go of anything,
