To keep my sanity I play the dividend game on the oil trusts that trade on the US boards....to do this you need to be able to buy and sell stocks cheaply ( my cost is 9.95 per trade..no matter how many shares) and you need to know when the stocks go ex-dividend....if you are quick, lucky and determined enough you can get at least two and sometimes three or four dividends on the same money in the same month....as the trusts go ex-dividend at different times during the month....some months you get caught but in the long run I have found it to work to my advantage...this is not for the faint at heart but then all stock playing is legal gambling that we try to get the best odds we can on our side..

There is a little more to this play than I have put forth here but it has worked well for me since the oil trusts started five or six years ago...

The one problem with this is that you have a lot of dividend income at the end of the year so you must check your individual tax situation...