Share trading and dividends

[WordIsBond]

but you don't ask....

....you never get sarcastic responses....

Fair point. But to be fair to myself (I ALWAYS make sure I'm AT LEAST fair to myself ), I did give you a detailed, substantive response to your question, as well as the sarcasm, didn't I?

[RSoles]

3rd type. Buy shares with a view to keeping them a long time, but keep an eye on them and sell where necessary. Re-invest any dividend income in more shares (not necessarily in the same plc that issued the dividend). Buy more shares every now and then.

This is what I do. I also wait until a reasonable amount of dividends has accumulated, say a minimum of £2k(to keep trading costs down), then probably buy a new share with a decent dividend in a new sector ( to give diversification).

I have also bought some distressed shares which don't pay dividends, one on these has been a spectacular success, others not so much. This is a more risky approach.

[Zylon]

Re the different types of investor - there's also extensive evidence that amateur investors' long-term returns are lower the more often they make trades. In fact at the extreme, the average amateur 'day-trader' manages to make a loss even before the exorbitant platform and trading fees are taken into account.

That's not to say you should never sell, but the evidence is that those who do so more than very occasionally end up earning less in the long term.

[MarillionFan]

Boredom.

Forget the rest of these Naysayers.

Actually, yes I do something similar. I take downloads from here Dividend Payment Dates - FTSE, LSE, AIM
which is quite useful and I drop it into an excel VBA macro I have that scans the prices on a daily basis.

I look a few months out and if the share drops for a while (especially when adjusting), I'll perhaps buy in on a few. What tends to happen is the month before the share price starts to move up a little, then will drop after the payout. I've found that buying in at the right time seems to get me a better net yield. According to my share spreadsheet I seem to make an average of 2.7% on the shares(over the last 5 years worth of short term trades) I bought in a couple of months before versus when I sell when it goes ex-dividend.

Perhaps doing a div reinvestment and keeping them would be better in the long term, but it stems back from day trading days.

You're definitely on to something.