As a dividend investor with a very broad portfolio (~80 companies, no company heavier than 1.5% in weight)i , try to achieve a mix of both growth and yield. Over the latest year i've been focusing to shift my stocks more towards growth than high yield, which currently nets me a YoC of about 4.76% on my overall portfolio. I'm about 46% on the way towards FIRE at age 31.
Perhaps in the future i will reshift towards index funds and ETF's (perhaps a 40 fund/60 stock ratio), but for now i'm very happy to not have a single index fund in my portfolio - only stocks. I'm globally diversified in 7 countries and 5 currencies and feel comfortable knowing 3 companies annually could go bankrupt and i would still return a profit simply on dividends. My portfolio is also up a grand total of 47.8% since i started, which beats market development by about double or so since then.
Regarding dividend investing versus overall return - all i will say that for me as a swede, dividend investing makes sense because of tax purposes.
We pay a flat tax based on the equity/value of our portfolio, not on dividends or profits, which makes dividends taxable at around 0.35% for the year 2016. Also, what made me finally go for stocks instead of funds is that i'm fairly comfortable and feel fairly competent choosing my investments individually. If i were to go for ETFs or funds, i would be stuck with a lot of "crap" as well as good (companies i do not want). I'm also a very
ethically-minded investor, and i don't want anything to do with oil, guns/military technology and the like - yes, i do have a blacklist of companies ;). Even the so-called socially responsible ETF's and funds in Vanguard have things like RGR, OLN and SWHC. That's a big no-no for me. I sometimes read people posting on MMM and other financial forums complaining about people's unethicality and the like - while happily investing in companies that cause billions of dollars worth of social damage, pollution and other things.
https://livingafi.com/2016/06/17/unloading-guns-from-a-portfolio/ <---- That's a great post about the challenge of unloading unethical stocks from ETF/Fund-investing from someone who has reached FIRE. A worthwhile read, imo. I know that this is a controversial subject particularly in the US - and i personally am no anti-gun-lobbyist (i even hunt, got a rifle and all :)), but i feel that someone should have the option to have a socially responsible ETF in more than just name.
In the end, people should invest in what they feel like. Find out what your tax situation is, and what is the best option for you personally, and financially. I found that for me, this is dividend investment. It grants me a greater degree of control, which is something i want.
Good luck :).
Edit: My biggest gripe with dividend investing is that it takes both time and money to re-shift priorities in the portfolio due to the individual positions, each a singular trade. If i had it mostly consolidated into 2-3 funds, doing so would be easy. Perhaps this is something i will do once i've reached FIRE and am happy downgrading my YoC in exchange for the broad appeal of a fund. In doing so, i could sell even a 500k+ position for no more than 5$. Now it costs me quite a bit to, if i at some point want to, re-shift the portfolio weights. This is a bit of an issue, and one i'm having to swallow right now.