With trades being commission-free these days, that benefit is negligible. Even with $10 trades (the usual price before commission free trades), and you withdrawing $20k from your retirement account annually, once a month, that works out to a drag of 0.6%. OTOH there's a very real downside to getting paid dividends (and incurring a taxable event) when your income is high (eg. making 400k bay area salary. If it was poured into the stock price instead, you could wait until you retire and get taxed on a lower marginal rate.