Experience is everything and as an investor, I’ve always been interested in generating multiple streams of passive income. Naturally, dividend stocks, especially high-yielding ones, are alluring. That said, nothing in life is guaranteed, and dividends can get cut at a moment's notice. Companies that pay dividends (without fail) for say 10, 15, or 20 years are likely “safer” than those simply with the highest yield. But then, we need to ask ourselves: what if the dividend doesn’t increase? As inflation erodes our buying power, it also erodes the power of the dividend. Dividend Aristocrats answer that question.
The Dividend Aristocrats are an elite group of 69 S&P 500 listed companies that have increased their dividend for at least each of the past 25 years. Let’s call them the “cream of the crop”. They, as a whole, are proven to have weathered pandemics, wars, and pretty much any economic downturn thrown at them- while still increasing their dividend year after year.
