Loan Relief Now

I tried a little experiment this past week, selling a share (yes, only one share) of a stock in after hours the day before it went ex-dividend. My hope (a slim one, at that) is that because the market had already closed, I would still be an owner of record (and thus be eligible for the dividend). By watching the stock price and the drop in the pre-market the next day, I’m fairly certain this strategy will -not- work. I’ll know for sure around October 3rd. Had I held until the next morning, I would have gotten the dividend, but the price would have tanked. To add further insult, the stock rebounded in a couple of days to its pre dividend level. Well, it’s a good lesson and a relatively inexpensive one.