I’ve been looking for solid dividend stocks.  Finally, my searches are paying off.  I googled upon a blog called the The Dividend Growth Investor, and there I’ve found 3 lists, each packed with credible dividend stocks that should keep me out of trouble for a while.  Kudos to the DGI blog. I encourage you to visit there for more detailed information.  Here’s the 3 lists- 2 well known ones from S&P, and a third surprise list.

Standard and Poor’s Aristocrats

S&P offers 3 Aristocrat indexes, 2 of which I’ll discuss here.

I. The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats- These are for people looking for stable large cap stocks providing relatively secure dividends.  These stocks are good if you’re retired and/or need steady passive income.

To make it to the 500 Dividend Aristocrats you must:

1. Be an S&P 500 company.
2. Have seen increases in your dividends every year for the last 25 years.

Stocks are reviewed each December to ensure they meet the above criteria. There are 57 stocks on the list as of October, 2008: Here’s a link to them: List

II. The High-Yield Dividend Aristocrats- started in 2005, this index measures the performance of the 50 highest dividend-yielding U.S. Dividend Aristocrats. If you don’t need the dividends for at least 10 or 15 years, these could be a good choice for you.  Though higher yields are obtained, in its short life span, this index has yet to consistently outperform the S&P 500.

To make it to the High-Yield Dividend Aristocrats you must:

1. Be one of the 1500 S&P Composite constituent stocks, and
2. Have followed a managed-dividends policy consistent with increasing dividends every year for at least 25 years.

Here’s a link the this list of 49 stocks as of October, 2008.  You can also purchase an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) of these stocks.  It trades under the symbol SDY.

Standard and Poor’s Aristocrats- NOT!

The final surprise list is called the US Dividend Champions.  It would only make sense that there would be some great dividend stocks out there that are not a part of the 1500 stocks playing in the “As The S&P World Turns.” soap opera.

From the Dividend Growth Investor:

“What about a company with a market cap of less than 2 billion dollars, which trades 200,000 shares a day and has increased its dividends for 40 years?” and

“I found a more thorough list of US companies that have continuously increased their dividend payments to shareholders for over 25 years on www.dripinvesting.org website. There are more than 130 companies in the US that fit this criterion. The person who prepared the list is Dave Fish, Exec. Editor of The Moneypaper, Direct Investing, The Moneypaper Guide to Direct Investment Plans as well as a Co-manager of The MP 63 Fund(DRIPX).”

I know what I’ll be doing this long holiday weekend:  plugging some of these stocks into my Stocks-to-Watch Worksheet, and seeing how they do.

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