Both benefits and drawbacks to dividend ETFs

Article Excerpt

The merits of investing in top dividend-paying companies are well known—capital gains, regular income, and lower risk. However, investors in ETFs that focus on dividend-paying companies need to be aware that the dividend payouts of ETFs are not as smooth as those of the best individual dividend-paying companies. For investors, companies that pay regular and growing dividends have performed very well over time when compared to the broad market indices. A simple dividend strategy (as represented by the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats) like selecting stocks with a long history of uninterrupted dividend growth has added 11.7% per year over the past 30 years; this compares to the 10.3% annualized returns for the S&P 500 Index. And not only did the dividend payers beat the overall market, but their returns were also less volatile, or risky. This superior performance of the dividend growth companies can be attributed to a combination of several factors: Companies with long histories of regular and growing dividend payments generally…