[murbard2]

Agreed.

In theory you can claim it back, but it's a major pain in the ass. Some ETF issued outside the US and holding US stocks will do it.

Other strategies to avoid this annoyance include:

1. selling on the ex-dividend date and buying the next day.

2. buying a long-date call and selling a put instead of holding the stock

3. simpler version of 2: buy a deep in the money long-dated call, you won't be paying all that much for the convexity, and you don't have to think about dividends.