Quote Originally Posted by root View Post
Another idea I had would be selling the shares before they go ex-dividend and then buying them back, not sure of the efficacy of doing this.
Overnighting. Not sure if it is using by small investors but big corporates do it (in London at least). If you dont want the dividend, you sell to someone before it goes ex and buy it back the next day from them (have agreement to do so).

This was normally be done for tax reasons. ie In a NZ situation say the holder couldn't utilize the IC's due to losses. Sell to a bank as they can use the IC's then buy back the next day. Bank takes a cut but less than the value of the ICs not utilized.

If a trader this will trigger a gain/loss and if not a trader, it may make you one.