Between dividend and capital gain, which *one* is your primary focus financially? Which one do you bet on? Choose one please.

— Betting on dependable dividend income for retirement .. is betting on the “business” to generate free cash flow.
After we pay $40 for a XOM share, we hope to receive around $2 payout every year, without worrying about the short-term fluctuations in XOM price, assuming we don’t need to sell.

— Betting on capital gain is betting on supply/demand, betting on sentiment, betting on collective human reaction to news.

In this bet, inherent profitability of the business (heart@valInv) is perceived like weather or another source of news.

For example, when Twitter banned Trump, investor sentiment turned negative but some reactions were positive. Energy news impact energy stocks in complex ways, due to investor reaction.

— buy-n-forget .. is harder for tech stocks.
Tech stocks, China stocks, financial stocks generate paltry dividend. So I am forced to monitor the sentiment and hope to escape before any crash.
— buy-n-hold .. is the default for dividend investors. During the long holding period, we hope to be lucky with DYOC.
— Market timing .. is much less important for dividend investors. They kinda watch for entry points. They don’t watch for exit points, except for reallocation/re-balancing.

Buying too high …. is kinda tolerable for dividend investors, as long as DYOC is well-maintained. This depends primarily on dividend cut/raise decisions by the business.