Best Stocks For Creating A Passive Income Stream

Dividend Growth Investor submits:I am a firm believer that companies that pay dividends by default represent an elite group of sound enterprises which should comprise an investor’s watchlist for further research.

What will you do on the first day of retirement? It’s a simple question that often throws soon-to-be retirees off guard. Not many people make the time to explicitly plan out such a wonderful day of their lives.

By Parsimony Investment Research:Investors love stocks that pay dividends ... and rightly so. Dividends have accounted for over 40% of the total annual return of the S&P 500 since 1926, and more than 100% of the returns over the past 10 years (the infamous "lost decade"). Despite the popularity of dividends among investors, there are several cash rich companies out there that are being stingy with shareholders (see list below).

Dividends4Life submits: In 1993, State Street Global Advisors launched the first exchange-traded fund (ETF). Now there are literally hundreds of ETFs out there covering sectors, countries, popular indexes and various strategies, including income investing.

David Brooks made an odd argument the other day about the impossibility of serious class-based political divisions in a world where high-income people work longer hours than low-income people that prompted a righteous smackdown from Matt Taibbi. For a more analytical take, I would recommend Monica Potts:

Many investors, especially retirees, rely on dividends to supplement their monthly salary or their social security pension; investing for income is a sound strategy as long as you buy shares in companies that pay dependable dividends that increase over time. Most dividends stocks pay you only once every three months and some, usually ADRs, pay you only once or twice a year, but it would be great if your dividends helped you pay your rent, your mortgage or your bills at the end of each month; that is why some investors choose to buy stocks of companies that pay dividends monthly.

By David White: There are a plethora of E&P companies in energy. If you choose well, they grow over the long term. The big, slower growing ones even pay decent dividends. However, if you want really good dividends you have to choose the Limited Partnerships. These pay great dividends -- much more than a lot of bonds. The good or bad other factor is that their stock prices tend to go up and down with the price of energy.