8 Dividend Stocks Every Retiree Should Own

The winning formula for retirees who count on dividend stocks for income comes in two parts.

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The winning formula for retirees who count on dividend stocks for income comes in two parts. A dividend-paying stock must be reliable in making regular payments, and it should increase its dividend annually. To find dependable dividend payers, look no further than the Dividend Aristocrats, a list of 50 companies in Standard & Poor's 500-stock index that have hiked their dividends every year for at least 25 consecutive years.

But as impressive as a quarter-century track record of annual dividend increases may be, there are some stocks that boast even longer streaks. After combing through the Dividend Aristocrats, we found eight stocks that have increased their dividends every year for at least 50 years. With more than a half-century of regular hikes, these dividend payers are as dependable as they come, and fit well in any retirement portfolio.

Data is as of February 24, 2017, unless otherwise indicated. Click on symbol links in each slide for current share prices and more.

SEE ALSO: 10 Stocks Every Retiree Should Own

Disclaimer

(Companies are listed in order of market cap—share price times total shares outstanding—starting with the highest. Analysts’ ratings provided by Zacks Investment Research. The list of 50 Dividend Aristocrats is maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices.)

Dan Burrows
Senior Investing Writer, Kiplinger.com

Dan Burrows is Kiplinger's senior investing writer, having joined the august publication full time in 2016.

A long-time financial journalist, Dan is a veteran of SmartMoney, MarketWatch, CBS MoneyWatch, InvestorPlace and DailyFinance. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Consumer Reports, Senior Executive and Boston magazine, and his stories have appeared in the New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and Investor's Business Daily, among other publications. As a senior writer at AOL's DailyFinance, Dan reported market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and hosted a weekly video segment on equities.

Once upon a time – before his days as a financial reporter and assistant financial editor at legendary fashion trade paper Women's Wear Daily – Dan worked for Spy magazine, scribbled away at Time Inc. and contributed to Maxim magazine back when lad mags were a thing. He's also written for Esquire magazine's Dubious Achievements Awards.

In his current role at Kiplinger, Dan writes about equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, funds, macroeconomics, demographics, real estate, cost of living indexes and more.

Dan holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a master's degree from Columbia University.

Disclosure: Dan does not trade stocks or other securities. Rather, he dollar-cost averages into cheap funds and index funds and holds them forever in tax-advantaged accounts.