Why Dividends Are Important

Its been months since the start of the COVID-19 crisis,and the market has been going on a wild roller coaster ride. While the US market has climbed from trough to peak in a V-shaped recovery since March, the Singapore market has remained stubbornly depressed, with much of the blue chips and REITs I'm vested in still in the red. Keppel DC REIT is the only one that defied the trend, and thanks to it my portfolio is relatively unscathed from the bloodbath. But this isn't the main point.

What it is, is that even throughout the crisis, stocks (or at least those that I bought), never stopped giving dividends. Sure much of it was reduced, including even the banks, who have been instructed by MAS to cap their dividends at 60% of what had been given last year, but THEY DIDN'T STOP. And the result of this has been that my overall portfolio, accounting for dividends, is in the green, regardless of the ginormous crisis that the entire world is facing. Perhaps more savvy investors/traders might scoff at this, with their profits from swing trading or buying into tech stocks (big boomz), but it proves that the things I invest in, and the rationale that stocks are bought to provide cashflow for use, is not wrong, and that this is a slow and steady way to getting closer to my semi-retirement.