Record date vs payout date in bonds — what actually matters?

QnA Discussions
1

quick one

what matters more in bonds, record date or payout date? getting a bit confused between the two

2

record date is what decides if you’ll get the payout or not

3

so if I buy before payout date, I should get it right?

4

no no, payout date doesn’t matter

if you’re not holding on record date you won’t get anything

5

yeah learnt this the hard way :sweat_smile:

bought just before payout thinking easy money

didn’t get anything

6

wait what

so when should I actually buy then

7

You need to hold the bond on the record date to be eligible for that payout.

Buying close to the payout date doesn’t help if the record date has already passed.

8

okay that clears it

i was mixing both

9

Also worth noting, record date is usually a few days before the payout date. So by the time payout is near, eligibility is already fixed.

10

yeah basically market has already decided who gets paid by then

11

got it

so record date is the real thing to track