I'm so dumb!

So I’m really dumb.

I was reading an online investment guide about diversifying portfolios and the like and I read about mutual funds and stock’s that payout yields and dividends annually and it was then that I realized that my mutual funds pay out dividends…

This makes me wonder if all my retirement perspective calculations have been off. If I look at the dividends like interest on a savings account, then I’m fine… But I wonder if I should look at them that way, especially since I re-invest those dividends and buy shares with them…

I originally opened my account through ING direct in 2007 and in 2008 they rolled that over into a ShareBuilder account so I can’t look at my account history before October 2nd 2008 as it doesn’t exist anymore (so I’ve no idea how much $$$ I collected through dividends).

Since my accounts moved to ShareBuilder, I’ve received to date:

• $713.79 in dividends. (6.20% of the amount I personally invested $11,500.)

Which is a nice amount of “free” money to invest… but since my account is still in the red, this means I actually lost an additional 6.20% when we hit the recession. Ouch…

I don’t know if I’m okay with just shrugging my shoulders at the dividends and calculating them like interest (but that’s what they are… a thank you for my investment in “whatever companies” my mutual fund has in them).

But I’m kind of bummed that I lost an additional $713.79… especially when my account is soooo close to breaking even. It makes me feel like I won’t break even on my account until it’s worth $12,213.79

So, should I go back and amend all my retirement perspectives to account for a dividends reinvested (that I know of) section? Or just leave it be and just look at the money I’ve put in from my paycheck and compare it to the market value that it’s worth?