"My research shows that dividends should be first and foremost in his thinking, especially with retirement portfolios when there are withdrawals."

Can you explain why dividends are more attractive than capital appreciation? I know both from the and as mentioned in your post that the historical information shows more stability in dividends, but leaving aside just viewing past data, what are the actual drivers in the boardroom or in corporate thinking that will in your mind continue to make seeking dividends a winning strategy?


"The mindless investor mentions the possibility of dividend cuts, thinking that this negates the advantage of dividend based retirement strategies."

Mentioning a possiblity hardly seems mindless to me, but if a possibly of downside negates a strategy, then no one would be in the markets at all.

"Dividends are much more predictable than prices."

Again, no one argues that, but the question is whether both returns and variation going forward will be superior to just buying good quality stocks on the merit of other metrics, not on the payout policy.