I have been a subscriber for a few years now and have owned shares in BHP and RIO among others in line with your income portfolio.

Some commentators suggest that when China cuts steel production, the demand for iron ore will drop significantly lower than what is currently being experienced. This no doubt will decimate the share price of these two companies further. Should I sell out now and take a massive loss to avoid more pain?

Also, I have still to put my head around Woodside Petroleum, Origin Energy, Woolworth and Primary Health. Any words of wisdom here will definitely help. I am a long term investor and am prepared to hold for the long haul as long as there is no hidden agenda that will stop these companies from turning around.

I believe that you need to hold a stock for 47 days to receive franking. Does this mean 47 days before the stock goes ex dividend, or 47 days in total?

Also, I own some Genworth Mortgage. They paid an extra dividend a few months ago and I think they are doing a share buy back soon.

To my mind, this shows really good financial health. Should this give me confidence for the future?

I am a retiree with $1.8m in my SMSF.

Recently dived into the banks for the upcoming dividends to the tune of $290k for ANZ, $290k for NAB and $160K for Westpac.

Now I’m reeling a bit after the NAB announcement, but have hung on and winced at the hit understandably. I bought NAB at $32.40 and ANZ at $28.90. Just looking for your thoughts on whether I should hold tight for longer term now, or take the loss. Do you think they will recover to these levels over next few years?

I have $400k to invest over the next few months and want high yield fully franked payments as I’m currently not working. Can you please refer me to a short list with estimated fully franked dividends and the dates they will be declared?

I have shares in Asciano.

I am confused about the proposal from a consortium led by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Ltd. Reading through some of the inch thick scheme booklet has not helped much. I basically want to know if I should sell my shares, which I believe is the “cash consideration”, or, if I should take the “script consideration” .

The script consideration involves CDI’S which I am not at all familiar with. The valuation range is $8.42 -$9.40 per share at this point in time, but I believe this could change.

I bought 1,500 units at $1.89  in 2010, total price $2,842. I need to make a decision about this by the end of October as I will be away in November when the scheme will be finalised.

What is your view on Origin Energy going forward? I understand that they have a share offer at present, but the value of their shares have dropped considerably in recent times.