Investors seeking income growth with less risk than that posed by the broad stock market have long bought shares of companies that regularly boost dividends.</br></br>But amid the financial crisis of the past year, the strategy -- and, along with it, dividend-focused mutual funds -- took a big hit as banks and other once-reliable sources of dividends slashed payouts to conserve cash. The shares of these companies also plummeted, making it one of the worst periods in memory for dividend-oriented funds.</br></br>Many such funds posted returns of minus 25% or worse for 2008. Although that wasn't quite as bad as last year's almost 40% drop in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, the poor performance of such funds stunned shareholders who thought they had chosen a fairly conservative investment approach.</br></br>Many of those investors are now looking for income and greater principal stability in places such as the bond market, while some advisers are steering clients toward different stock strategies.</br></br>But if you are thinking about throwing in the towel on dividends and dividend-focused funds, there may be reasons to reconsider.