donzelion

81 Dividend Growers to Consider

While I share David's priorities (yield, safety, consistency), I do take modest positions in companies with slightly lower yields for the sake of sectoral diversification (e.g., some industries are allergic to dividends, others consistently overdo it - like financials up to '08, and I don't want my portfolio to consist entirely of mega-caps).

Dividend Stocks Review: March 2009

If I recall correctly, the author does not reinvest dividends through DRIPs or an automatic reinvestment program, but rather, reinvests, but does so by adding dividend income to his previously scheduled investments.

That makes sense to me, esp. if one is dollar cost averaging into certain stocks, sectors, or funds. Some of the biggest dividend payers are not good investment candidates for new money (but represent positions I'd prefer to maintain) - and automatically reinvesting dividends into the same company that paid them out doesn't make a great deal of sense to me.