No passive income source (dividends from stock, real estate rents) is risk-free. Nearly zero jobs are risk-free either (you could get fired, laid off, etc).
That's fair, but there's something about a yield that comes from work already done that is different than a yield that comes from an active decision to invest ones portfolio in a certain way.
Additionally it's conceptually difficult to draw a hard line between capital gains and dividends and then suddenly background market fluctuations could make a year look very good or very bad.
Additionally it's conceptually difficult to draw a hard line between capital gains and dividends and then suddenly background market fluctuations could make a year look very good or very bad.