Wait until after Ex dividend date to buy VTSAX

[felizcortez]

I have about $25k I am planning to invest in VTSAX, but am considering waiting until after the ex dividend date in order to not get an immediate taxable distribution.  The only reason I'm considering this is because I believe the ex dividend date is only a few days away.  I haven't been able to find the dividend schedule for VTSAX to plan ahead, but looked at previous distributions to get an idea.  Wondering if this is worth it or not to save on the taxes. 

[Spork]

Check me on my math here, but...

$25k buys about 457 shares.
The last dividend was 0.228/share.

We're talking about $104 in earnings here.  I doubt that really affects your taxes much.   

[MustacheAndaHalf]

Do you have $0 invested and are delaying your start?
Or do you already have $100,000+ invested and are planning on adding a fraction to your holdings?

I wouldn't use the dividend date as an excuse - start investing if you haven't already.  If you've already shown you invest regularly and just want to push the timing of one contribution back a few weeks, that's different.

Most people are in the 15% qualified dividends tax rate, which on a $109 dividend is $16.  So you're talking about $16 on an investment of $25,000.  An online savings account earns about that much in 3 weeks, so you should expect staying out of the market 3 weeks to cost you more in lost gains than $16.  Stock returns are not guaranteed - except if you're out of the market you're guaranteed to miss them.

[felizcortez]

Do you have $0 invested and are delaying your start?
Or do you already have $100,000+ invested and are planning on adding a fraction to your holdings?

I have over $1.1M in the market, so it's not an issue with regards to investing.  I thought that since it might be as early as the 10th for the dividend date (since it's a holiday weekend) i could save some taxes before putting it in by waiting a few days.  I was just going to put it on an auto investment on the date and be done with it, but since I can't find the actual date, and I've probably spent more time researching this than the taxes would have cost at this point, I'm just going to dump it in.