ziggy29
Moderator Emeritus
I don't know that dividend stocks are (on average) any more volatile, as long as they are paying sustainable dividend levels. If the returns do not include reinvested dividends, they are comparing apples and oranges.I noticed next to the "Style" box there's "YTD return" that shows Total = 14.03% vs. High Dividend = 10.73% and holdings turnover is 3% vs 13%. Does that mean High Dividend is very volatile ? And it does look like Total will win in the long run compared to High dividend. I originally was looking at this like this : "OK the High dividend pays so much more then in return it buys way more shares than Total so we will be better off".
Also for those that mentioned dividend can be paid out to an account - how do you withdraw from it ? I thought you cannot withdraw from non-taxable account without a penalty before age 59.5 ? ( I did read about using Roth ladder to convert principal but not capital gain)
And as for the difference in returns, I'd add a couple of caveats here. First, "YTD" (in early April, no less) is not a sufficient performance metric to draw any long term conclusions. Look also for 1- 3-, 5- and 10-year returns and make sure they include *reinvested dividends*.
That leads me to my second caveat -- in performance metrics, make sure they are not looking ONLY at share price but also reinvested dividends and capital gains.
I would expect lower turnover in the total market because it is an index fund.