The 20 Highest Yielding Dividend Aristocrats

In today’s low interest rate environment, retirees are having a hard time finding tax efficient income opportunities, worthy of their money, which would help them enjoy their post-working years. A great idea for income seeking investors is investing in stocks that pay good yields and have consistent dividend payments. With inflation averaging around 3 - 4% per year, your investment in dividend paying stocks would provide you with a source for income that keeps its purchasing power over time, which unlike fixed income securities can also provide you with capital gains. Unlike bond payments which are fixed, stock dividends could be raised and thus provide stockholders with a nice raise for owning the right companies.

A good starting point for income investors is the S&P Dividend Aristocrats list, which features companies that have increased their annual dividend payments every year for more than 25 consecutive years. I have selected the 20 highest yielding stocks in the index, along with their ticker, P/E ratio, dividend yield and dividend payout ratio.
























The portfolio consisting of the 20 highest yielding stocks in the Dividend Aristocrats index currently yields 5.31% ( As of May 23, 2008). This is far better than most bonds and most stocks. This portfolio is just for illustrative purposes only, however. Its performance could be better or worse than the S&P 500 benchmark.

You could access the spreadsheet from here.

Full Disclosure: I own GCI, CINF, GE, KMB and CLX.
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