How to get dividends

There are two ways of making money in the stock market.

I have summarized them here.

Capital appreciation, or share of prices going up, is the most common, and sometimes the most abused, way of growing your money.

But dividends are also a great machine for squeezing the most out of your money’s potential.

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So how do you avail of a dividend?

Whenever a dividend is announced, there’s always three dates mentioned in it. Look for them to aid you in your decision of buying stocks and availing of a desired dividend.

RECORD DATE – date where stockholders to be entitled of dividends are identified and recorded. For the purpose of availing the dividend, you can ignore this one.

EX-DATE - three working days before the record date. EX means bye-bye dividends. This starts the three-day process period, during which if you buy you’re NOT entitled to the dividend.  The three days period is needed because of the T+3 rule – three days is needed after the transaction day before the stock you bought be placed under your account.

While you can already see it in your portfolio after the order is executed, the records that will be used in identifying the entitled stockholders will only be updated after these three days.

PAYMENT DATE – date where dividends will be finally paid to stockholders. Yahoo!

Depending on your broker, you may see this in your portfolio on or after the payment date.

Bottom-line: 

To avail of a desired dividend, make sure you have the stock in your portfolio at least one day before the EX-DATE. 

Buying the stock starting on the EX-DATE won’t entitle you to that dividend.

You can check all the dividend declaration of all companies in the PSE website or through your broker.

Some Frequently-asked Questions: Q: How will I know that I received my dividends?
A: You'll receive an email from your online broker that you've received the dividend you're entitled to.

Q: When will I see the cash proceeds (or additional stocks) in my account?
A: If it's cash dividends, you can see it in your account ledger on or few days after the payment date.
If it is stock dividends, you'll see added in your portfolio on or few days after the payment date.

Q: How can I ensure that I'm entitled to dividends?
A: It's when you buy the stocks at least one day BEFORE the EX-DATE.

Now devise your dividend-related strategy!

Have fun investing! 
Omeng \_(",)/