Younger investors with many years of work ahead of them can afford to prioritize growth over income in their portfolios. After all, time is going to do most of their heavy lifting for the foreseeable future, and it’s likely to erase any short-term setbacks the market might dish out. For investors nearing or already in retirement, however, it’s a different story. They need reliable income now, and they’ll need its sources to keep being reliable later.
If you’re among the latter group and are ready to reconfigure your portfolio to more appropriately meet your new investing requirements, Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED), Crown Castle International (NYSE:CCI), and Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) should rank among your top prospects.
Let’s find out a bit more about these three dividend stocks that can help bankroll your retirement.
1. Consolidated Edison
Dividend yield: 4.6%
Utility companies are great income stocks for an obvious reason — they’re steady businesses. People tend to do whatever it takes to keep the lights, heat, and water on. So the companies that provide those services can have a pretty good idea of how much revenue they’ll be collecting in any given month.
Not all utility stocks are the same though — not by a long shot. Various companies move in and out of favor over time, and each will face somewhat different price regulation restrictions and expense situations. Based on these factors, right now, Consolidated Edison looks to be one of the top stocks to buy in the sector.
Yes, its above-average dividend yield of 4.6% is part of the bullish argument. But the rest hinges on the fact that ConEd is embracing the country’s inevitable and ongoing transition to a greener energy future. Namely, the company aims to triple its current energy efficiency by 2030, and it is working toward a goal of generating 100% of its electricity from clean/renewable sources by 2040. It’s even tinkering with electric school buses in an effort to help get heavily polluting vehicles off our roads.
None of these clean-energy initiatives have been mandated by governments to the degree Consolidated Edison is pursuing them. But renewable energy is the shape of things to come.
ConEd has already compiled a 46-year streak of annual dividend hikes, and by being proactive now rather than reactive later, it’s positioning itself to keep extending that streak for many years more.
Full story on Fool.com
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