Higher dividend yield not always better

Avoiding the Dividend Trap

Excerpt:

Dividends have historically accounted for 40% of the returns from investing in stocks, and despite conventional wisdom, high-dividend-payout companies tend to have stronger earnings growth. So the case for investing in companies that pay dividends is a strong one. It seems that a logical way to achieve a high yield on a dividend fund would be to weight stocks by their dividend yield, so that high-yielding stocks would make up a larger percentage of the fund. But unfortunately, it does not follow that if dividends are good, a higher dividend yield must be better. The fact is that this approach does nothing to screen out the low-quality, risky companies that are likely to cut their dividends in the future, or even file for bankruptcy.

Comment: Advice (read the whole article) - look for consistent dividend payers. Stocks mentioned: Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds. Also these dividend ETFs:

• PowerShares Hi-Yield Eq Div Achievers (PEY)
  
• Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG)
  
• PowerShares Dividend Achievers (PFM)
  

Tip: Look at the top holdings for these funds: Example - PFM