Why does it take two weeks (from ex-date) for dividends to pay out?
Why does it take two weeks (from ex-date) for dividends to pay out? For logistical and accounting purposes. This article says on the payment date: This date is generally a week or more after the date of record so that the company has sufficient time to ensure that it accurately pays all those who are entitled. It is for the same reasons that there is a often a two-week period between the time an employee submits her time sheet and the employee's pay date. The company needs time to set and send the payment while minimizing accounting errors. So from Investopedia - Who actually declares a dividend states that the Board of Directors of a company sets the 4 key dates: As these dates are chosen by the Board of Directors, either by internal corporate convention or special situation. Conceivably a Board may choose a Payable Date greater than 2 weeks which may make sense if their accounting partners are unavailable, i.e. extended national holiday. I assume that any period of time longer that what may seem reasonable and customary will be a topic at the next shareholder meeting.
It looks like it has to deal with an expiration of rights as a taxable event. I found this link via google, which states that  Not only does the PSEC shareholder have a TAXABLE EVENT, but he has   TWO taxable events. The net effect of these two taxable events has   DIFFERENT CONSEQUENCES for DIFFERENT SHAREHOLDERS depending upon their   peculiar TAX SITUATIONS. The CORRECT STATEMENT of the tax treatment of unexercised PYLDR rights   is in the N-2 on page 32, which reads in relevant part as follows: “…, if you receive a Subscription Right from PSEC and do not sell or   exercise that right before it expires, you should generally expect to   have (1) taxable dividend income equal to the fair market value (if   any) of the Subscription Right on the date of its distribution by PSEC   to the extent of PSEC’s current and accumulated earnings and profits   and (2) a capital loss upon the expiration of such right in an amount   equal to your adjusted tax basis (if any) in such right (which should   generally equal the fair market value (if any) of the Subscription   Right on the date of its distribution by PSEC).” Please note, for quarterly “estimated taxes” purposes, that the   DIVIDEND taxable events occur “ON THE DATE OF ITS DISTRIBUTION BY PSEC   (my emphasis),” while the CAPITAL LOSS occurs “UPON EXPIRATION OF SUCH   RIGHT” (my emphasis). They do NOT occur on 31 December 2015 or some   other date. However, to my knowledge, neither of the taxable events he mentions would be taxed by 4/15. If you are worried about it, I would recommend seeing a tax professional. Otherwise I'd wait to see the tax forms sent by your brokerage. I know that in the case of cash dividends I will get the dividend as long as I bought the stock before the ex-date but what happens in the case of an stock dividend? This is same as cash dividends. You would receive the additional stock. you asked for strategies which use deep in the money options:  dividend mispricing can use deep in the money options, basically its an arbitrage play on ex-dividend dates. and any kind of spread can use deep in the money options, depending on how wide you want your spread to be When dividend is announced the stock and option price may react to that news, but the actual payout of the dividend on the ex-dividend date is what you probably are referring to. The dividend payout affects the stock price on the ex-dividend date as the stock price will drop by the amount of paid out dividend (not taking into account other factors). This in turn drives the prices of all options.  The amount of change in the option price for this event is not only dependent the dividend payout, but also on how far these are in our out of the money and what there time to expiration is. The price of a call option that is far out of the money would react less than the price of a put that would be far in the money. Therefore I would argue that these two will not necessarily offset each other. Firstly, investors love dividend paying company as dividends are proof of making profit (sometimes dividend can be paid out of past profits too)   Secondly, investor cash in hand is better than potential earnings by the company by way of interest. Investor feels good to redeploy received cash (dividend) on their own   Thirdly, in some countries dividend are tax free income as tax on dividends has already been paid. As average tax on dividend is lower than maximum marginal tax; for some investor it generates extra post tax income   Fourthly, dividend pay out ratio of most companies don't exceed 30% of available fund for paying (surplus cash) so it is seen as best of both the world Lastly, I trust by instinct a regular dividend paying company more than not paying one in same sector of industry "They're taking advantage of float.  Like so many things in the financial world today, this practice is a (strictly legal) fraud. When you make the transaction, the money is available immediately, for reasons that should be intuitively obvious to anyone who's ever used PayPal.  It doesn't take 3 minutes for the broker to get that money, let alone 3 days.  But if they can hold on to that money instead of turning it over to you, they can make money from it for themselves, putting money that rightfully belongs to you to work for them instead, earning interest on short-term loans, money market accounts, etc. The SEC mandates that this money must be turned over to you within 3 days so it should not surprise anyone that that's exactly how long the ""we have to wait for it to clear"" scam runs for.  Even if it doesn't seem like very much money per transaction, for a large brokerage with hundreds of thousands of clients, all the little bits add up very quickly.  This is why they feel no need to compete by offering better service: offering poor service is making them a lot of money that they would lose by offering better service." The dividends on CD's typically get put back on the balance of the CD depending on the instition.  That money then becomes available to withdraw if you so decide, but if you leave it in the account you will earn more interest.  The interest is compounded off the total balance which includs any dividends that have been added in the CD.  You essentially only get paid out once typically on a CD which is the time of maturity.  After that you have 10 days to either roll this into a new cd and cash it out.  The dividends typically get paid out (or put back on the cd) quarterly, but it depends on the institution as well.   Try going to the following website to find out how much you will make.  You will need to ask your institution if they pay out monthly or quarterly first.  Put in the beginning balance, how often it's paid out, the interest, and months and it will tell you your ending balance. http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/bank-cd-calculator.aspx My suggestion:  Stay away from CD's at this time. The interest rates are too low to bother with. Dividends from mutual funds reduce the share value the day they are distributed.   Mutual funds do this at least once a year, or more times in the year if there are a lot of gains, to pass through taxable gains to individuals who may have lower tax rates or deferred tax accounts such as you. This is meaningful for investors who hold the mutual funds in taxable accounts,  but immaterial for 401ks.  Your account balance is not affected if you don't get the distribution before roll over.