Dividend stocks have properties that make them very viable as an income source. "Aristocrats" such as these will generally raise the dividend at about the same pace as inflation, so you could imagine buying a basket of them and holding them forever.Qualified dividends are presently taxed at 15%, which is preferable to bond interest which is taxed as ordinary income. Though there's been some hullabaloo about changing that.Dividend stocks tend to be value stocks and tend to be large, old companies, and there are pros and cons that come with those designations.
Non-dividend stocks may be preferable if you won't touch the money for many years. If you are collecting and reinvesting dividends, you pay taxes on that income every year, whereas if you buy and hold a growth stock, you only pay taxes once when you finally sell it. That difference can be huge when compounded over many years.
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