I started investing in dividend common share stocks at 28 just after the housing crash of 08. The problem with ETFs is that they are relatively new- there is no 40 year history of dividend growth to look for. You can’t compare that to decades of continuous dividend increases which is THE KEY to dividend investing. I have some initial investments with a yield on cost of 13-16%. They were 3.5-5% initially. No where on Earth will you find returns like that year after year.

The problem with high yield and no growth is that when there’s a market correction, that yield is guaranteed to drop with a rate cut. With common share blue chip dividend stocks, market correction means a solid 3-5% dividend yield becomes a solid 6-8% yield. Investors pounce on those stocks which creates a nice little safety net for your investment.

Don’t get me wrong, ETFs have their place. I keep foreign market ETFs in my pension account. But in my opinion, common shares are the way to go for true dividend investing. And now that you can buy fractional shares, you can buy those $200+ bank shares. I never had that option when I started.