Get Rich with Dividends: A Proven System for Earning Double-Digit Returns

Junior Aristocrats

There are usually only about 40 to 50 Dividend Aristocrats and about 100 Champions.

Although 100 stocks sounds like a lot, keep in mind that, like the Aristocrats, not all of them have attractive yields. Despite annual raises, many still have yields below 3%. So we need to expand our choices even further.

The next groups of stocks are the Dividend Achievers and Contenders.

Dividend Achievers are stocks that have raised their dividends for ten or more consecutive years and meet very easy liquidity requirements.

Moody’s Investor Services started the list in 1979, and it is now maintained by Indxis.

Interestingly, although no ETFs track the Dividend Aristocrats, several follow Dividend Achievers.

The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (NYSE: VIG) tracks the Mergent Dividend Achievers Index. (Mergent is owned by Indxis and maintains the index.)

The Powershares Dividend Achievers (NYSE: PFM) tracks the Broad Dividend Achievers Index. An important difference between the Dividend Achievers Index and the Broad Dividend Achievers Index is that the Broad Index can include Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs). Those stocks often have higher yields. We’ll discuss REITs and MLPs in Chapter 6.

The Powershares High Yield Equity Dividend Achievers (NYSE: PEY) corresponds to the Mergent Dividend Achievers 50 Index. The Achievers 50 Index consists of the top 50 highest-yielding stocks in the Broad Dividend Achievers Index that have raised ...