Five of the primary reasons why dividends matter for investors include the fact they substantially increase stock investing profits, provide an extra metric for fundamental analysis, reduce overall portfolio risk, offer tax advantages, and help to preserve the purchasing power of capital.
Total return is what is the measurement is for determining performance, not how it is arrived at .
Just look at AT&T for an example of how risky stocks can be dividend or not .
that was once thought to be the stock of choice for widows and orphans .
it not only has had insane volatility but performance has sucked for a long long time.
including reinvesting all dividends it has returned a pathetic 1.40% average the last 15 years ,
1.08% the last 10 , compared to a total market funds 9% the last 15 years , and almost 13% the last 10 .
you took on not only individual company risk plus the normal market risk of a diversified fund and got nothing for that EXTRA risk.
80% of the S&P pay dividends and 100% of the dow pay dividends and they both are down as much ….plenty of risk there
Dividends do nothing total return doesn’t do as far as preserving capital .
taking a 4% dividend and spending or reinvesting it will give you the same balance and cash flow as the same dollars from a portfolio of non div payers with the same total return .
3 mythical reasons you gave As a general statement
dividend claim to fame is that a rising dividend , not just paying one , is generally looked at as a sign of health of a company since they are saying look at me , I have money we don’t need .
so historically investors liked that …it hasn’t been true for a while anymore and a stock is a stock today …how it does is up to the specific company.
the ten highest dividend paying stocks in the Dow have all been dogs performance wise