Capturing Dividends - BOGN, EMGP, etc.
Just a quick note for anyone trying to capture a dividend on a stock.
The "record date" is NOT the key date to the investor/speculator. The reason is you have to allow for settlement of the trade (currently, T+3). So you actually have to buy the stock 3 trading days before the record date. You should contact your broker to be sure of the date.
I really wish the rules would require companies to add a paragraph like the above to their dividend announcements. Because year after year I see situations like this and it's perfectly reasonable for the average person to say, "okay, record date is the 14th, so if I buy on or before the 14th I get the dividend." But that is not correct.
It's needlessly confusing to the public.
