Companies pay dividends, split their shares, buy themselves back, get acquired, spin pieces off, ask you to subscribe to new ones. Each event lands in your broker app or inbox without warning, often with unfamiliar language and sometimes a deadline. The whole skill is recognising which kind you're looking at. Two questions cover almost every case: first, does my economic stake actually change? Second, do I need to take an action by a deadline? Most events answer 'no' to both. A few answer 'yes' to one or both — and those are the ones worth slowing down for.

“Most corporate actions are automatic. The dangerous ones are the ones with a deadline.”