Generally look at the performance index to evaluate returns, NEVER NEVER the price index, please.
The total return of the S&P 500 from January 1999 until now is 47.7%, or 2.91% per annum (EDIT: had incorrect numbers!). Not a good return, but you also picked one of the worst dates.
Please also note that the price and dividend returns ADD UP. You don't need to choose between one or the other.
I was merely displaying the parts of that performance and illustrating that one part of it is far more volatile and the other is less so. Knowing that fact alone, if you had invested in divindend paying securities and focused on the cash flow of the economy, you would have been personally better off.
Not all stocks pay dividends. Not paying attention to that can bring you closer to the -1.5%/an and farther from 4.9%.
>>Not a good return, but you also picked one of the worst dates.
I have picked the current situation. We can talk about historical rosy times in the market, but that is somewhat beside the point. This is our current reality.
And no, picking the stocks with more dividend yield is NOT a strategy that is guaranteed to work, because these are usually low-growth companies. Now the market assessment of growth is unlikely to be right for all companies, but it's likely to be better than that of most people.