Sort of a side note, but living off the dividends is mostly a psychological thing. The stock price goes down by roughly the dividend amount around the ex div da

Sort of a side note, but living off the dividends is mostly a psychological thing. The stock price goes down by roughly the dividend amount around the ex div date since a company with less cash on-hand is worth less. If you own shares of company that looks like it should pay a dividend but doesn't, you can simulate it by selling shares. That said, dividends are a decent proxy for company stability and health, but execs also know this, so they play games with dividends to keep income investors interested.