Dividend Investors Should Consider A Dose Of 'Reality'

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Eric Ervin, President and CEO of San Diego based Reality Shares, a boutique firm boasting a line-up of four fairly-new-to-market ETFs focused on dividend strategies. Namely:
Reality Shares DIVS ETF (NYSEARCA: DIVY) Reality Shares DIVCON Leaders Dividend ETF (BATS:LEAD) Reality Shares DIVCON Dividend Defender ETF (BATS:DFND) Reality Shares DIVCON Dividend Guard ETF (BATS:GARD) The firm has won numerous awards owing to its efforts, including DIVY being named "Most Innovative ETF - Americas" at this year's 12th annual Global ETF Awards.

Reality Shares President & CEO Eric Ervin
Unlike some of the mundane dividend and dividend-growth ETFs that seem to mimic or largely resemble large-cap weighted indices, Reality's funds include proprietary strategy (DIVCON), short selling, and in one of the four, market timing. Its most unique dividend fund, DIVY, doesn't pay a dividend or invest in dividend stocks at all. Yes, you heard that correct.
In this article, we'll take a look at all four strategies and consider whether any possess particular merit for dividend investors.
It's all About The DIVY
DIVY is designed to track the dividend growth rate of the S&P 500 Index without any associated price risk. The fund invests in S&P 500 dividend swaps through various counterparties, but with virtually no counterparty risk.
Since it does not pay a dividend, DIVY would not serve as a core... Read more