As if to remind me that viewing my brokerage account has not been a consoling experience this year, financial media have highlighted to underperformance of old faithful dividend aristocrats this year. 

Once again, I’m wishing I’d put more of my portfolio into tech growth stocks this year, even if it meant deviating off course from my long term strategy of building a portfolio that gets much of its returns from dividend payments. Or at least I wished I’d picked better tech names to hitch my wagon too. (So far, my growth picks have lagged well behind the market leaders. More on that in a future post.)

So, does my remorse mean it may finally be time to buy dividend stocks again? Several voices in the media seem to think so. 

Barron’s recently noted that ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats (NOBL) has gained just 5% this year, including dividends — a far cry from the 18% return the market as a whole has achieved. Not good news if you invested in January. But maybe lagging performance is a sign that it could be a buying opportunity going forward. 

I’ve generally eschewed investing in ETFs and mutual funds. But I have a feeling if I measured my own portfolio’s performance against some of them, I might be surprised. But I’ve eaten enough crow for one day, so I won’t add any more to my diet right now. 

Still, NOBL and other dividend growth funds are worth a look. VIG and DGROW are among the others that I plan to consider, especially if the management fees are low. And even if I don’t buy the funds, looking at their holdings might introduce me to some stocks I should consider adding to my portfolio.

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