Many advisors are not fully aware of the powerful benefits that dividend-paying stocks can offer their clients as a planning strategy. Advisors facing the daunting task helping today’s retirement-bound clients should consider structuring retirement portfolios with increased allocations to dividend-paying equities in order to capture higher returns offered through a combination of dividends and price appreciation.
Historically, almost half of the 10 percent annual return from stocks has come from dividends, with the balance being earned through price appreciation. Over the past 10 years, the major index companies increased dividends dramatically; Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJIA) companiesincreased dividends by 76 percent, S&P 500 Index companies by 68 percent, and the Nasdaq Index companies by 490 percent.
This 10-year period has been a particularly dismal period for advisors and their client portfolios who suffered through a major bear market from 2000-2002, and a major financial crisis in 2008. Yet the DJIA, S&P 500 Index, and Nasdaq Index companies increased dividends by an average of 7.07 percent, 5.46 percent, and 45.38 percent respectively per year. The staggering increase in Nasdaq dividends has been driven by a dramatic increase in the number of technology companies that have adopted dividend-payout programs. These dividend statistics lead us to believe that we are entering into a Golden Age of Dividend Investing, which will save retirement for millions of Americans.