3 Reasons to Own Apple Stock in Retirement

There's a well-worn playbook when it comes to selecting stocks for retirees' portfolios.

(Image credit: Courtesy Apple Inc.)

There's a well-worn playbook when it comes to selecting stocks for retirees' portfolios. Giant value stocks, preferably blue chips, with strong balance sheets, dependable dividends and a history of hiking those payouts are usually the go-to picks. Ordinarily, such names are found in defensive sectors such as telecommunications, utilities and consumer staples.

Against those criteria, Apple (symbol AAPL) wouldn't appear to be a good fit. Long considered a growth stock, it's situated in the more volatile technology sector. After all, tech stocks are always at risk of being disrupted. Today's darlings are too often tomorrow's afterthoughts. Besides, Apple has only paid a dividend for a handful of years now, and it's not all that generous relative to its profits.

Yet there's a strong argument to be made for Apple as part of a diversified retirement portfolio. From cash stockpiles to valuation to the sheer strength of its brand, Apple is poised to be an income machine. Consider these three reasons why.

Disclaimer

Prices and related figures are as of December 7, unless otherwise indicated.

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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.