4 Retirement Stocks Paying Dividends of 4% or More

When the price of a dividend stock climbs, its yield falls.

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When the price of a dividend stock climbs, its yield falls. As a result, a rising stock market, such as we've had of late, can make it harder for income investors to find attractive dividend payers. Indeed, the current dividend yield on Standard & Poor's 500-stock index is just 2.1%, down from 2.3% a year ago. For retirees dependent on investment income, a 2.1% yield won't even keep up with inflation in 2017, according to Kiplinger's latest forecast.

True, investors can buy stocks with unusually high yields, but such names typically come with greater risks. A too-good-to-be-true yield can be a red flag about a company's financial health and an indicator that the dividend isn't sustainable. That's why dependable, high-quality stocks with above-average dividend yields are such important components of a retirement portfolio. Here are four great dividend stocks that are paying double the yield of the blue-chip S&P 500 index.

Disclaimer

(All prices and other data are as of January 9, 2017. Figures are based on the average of analysts’ forecasts for calendar 2017, as compiled by Zacks Investment Research, unless otherwise noted. Stocks are listed alphabetically.)

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.