You want me to put a ribbon on it for you. Took me years to develop a consistent trading methodology and i'm to give it away in summary. You most likely wouldn't get anyway. According to the op, i'm a chump...

If interest rates rise, it will not be good for div stocks.

Bonds are taxed as interest, so are preferred shares and t Bill's. Are those for chumps? Dividend stocks give you the source of income as well as capital gain potential. As a group they dont fall as much as the general market in hard times. Sure in the long run much more growth potential in non paying dividend stocks but if your retired and need a source of income when the market is down 30%, IBM is looking much better than AMZN. Also with dividend stocks you can get access to shares at a discount if you re-invest the dividends. Some people have built their entire wealth with dividend stocks. DEFINITLY not for chumps. Time and a place
1) "they're safer" - generally true but thats because stable div paying companies are usually mature companies. No real value for being high div imo. and high beta can be managed by small sizing.
2) "you keep the stock, AND gets cash back" - obviously flawed illusion because as you said, div is net out by drop in stock price. it's surprising how many people can't see that dividends are a zero-sum (or negative because tax) action.
3) "these companies generate great revenue" - but i see this on the negative side. That the companies don't have enough investments opportunities hence extra cash leading to divs. again no real value for being high div.
i think if all else equal, a company that pays div is worse than one that doesnt.
You are taking a tax hit, so you are losing every time you rebalance, no? I.e. if you get a div, first you pay regular income tax on it and only then re-invest. On the other hand, if you sell a stock after holding it for a while, it's taxed as capital gains, so you get better reinvestment rebalancing/treatment. Not sure, TBH.Even if the dropped, I would be reinvesting at the lower price. More shares to draw dividends against. WIN-WIN.