Have you ever bought a stock only to find out later that you were not entitled to the next cash or stock dividend paid by the company? To determine whether you should get cash and most stock dividends, you need to look at two important dates. They are the "record date" or "date of record" and the "ex-dividend date" or "ex-date."

When a company declares a dividend, it sets a record date when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. Companies also use this date to determine who is sent proxy statements, financial reports, and other information.

Once the company sets the record date, the stock exchanges or the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. fix the ex-dividend date. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks two business days before the record date. If you purchase a stock on its ex-dividend date or after, you will not receive the next dividend payment. Instead, the seller gets the dividend. If you purchase before the ex-dividend date, you get the dividend.

Here is an example:

Declaration Date	Ex-Dividend Date    Record Date	   Payable Date	
 7/27/03	                8/6/03	                8/10/03	        9/10/03

On July 27, 2003, Company XYZ declares a dividend payable on September 10, 2003 to its shareholders.

XYZ also announces that shareholders of record on the company's books on or before August 10, 2003 are entitled to the dividend. The stock would then go ex-dividend two business days before the record date.

In this example, the record date falls on a Tuesday. Excluding weekends and holidays, the ex-dividend is set two business days before the record date or the opening of the market