This has turned into an interesting discussion about the medium to long term investment. I don't think you can lock away all stocks for a period of time and expect the dividends to roll in. You still need to keep an eye on them to see what the market thinks of certain things happening within the company, local economy, world economy, etc. Sure the dividends might pay your interest on your loan but if you don't keep an eye on things you could have half of what you started with due to the price falling.
For example this time lat year you bought RIO at $149.52 per share. Dividends are good and looking good going forward. However current price a year later is $64.44 and you would be down $85 per share. How long will it take to get back to that level?
Hopefully this is the low point in the market and they are undervalued and you are getting in at the right time but short, medium or long term needs constant attention.
I am no expert and would probably be considered quite a noob. This is however something that I am very interested in and I am prepared to turn this interest into a passion. Without the passion you will not give it the attention that it deserves.