Many new income investors are confused about when they need to hold stocks to collect dividends. Either they end up missing the dividend because they bought too late, or on the other side, they sold too early.
Ongoing dividends from any stock are not guaranteed. A company’s board of directors will review the financial results of the business each quarter and then announce the next dividend or distribution. Monthly dividend stocks may or may not announce three monthly payments at a time. Sometimes – and this is particularly true for some ETFs – they may not make an announcement until right before the ex-dividend date. Each new dividend announcement will include at least three pieces of information…
This post originally appeared at Investors Alley.