How To Invest In The Dividend Aristocrats – Directly Or Through ETFs

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This one is another interesting and lucrative investment strategy. The so-called dividend aristocrats are a group of stocks from the S&P 500 index, that have increased the dividends they pay to shareholders for at least 25 consecutive years. Sounds good, isn’t it? Not only these companies have paid dividends for a quarter of a century, but also they increased them every single year.

For the last 25 years, a portfolio containing all Dividend Aristocrats would have beaten the SP500 index big time. If you invested $1 000 in the index 25 years ago, you would have made around $7 990 in 2014. If you invested in The Dividend Aristocrats stocks the same amount, you would have made nearly twice – around $14 494 by the year 2014. You can see how both of these investment scenarios would have developed on the following chart:



 

The chart shows the growth of The Dividend Aristocrats compared to the growth of SP500 index for the last 25 years. Source: <a href="https://nasdaq.com

The chart shows the growth of The Dividend Aristocrats compared to the growth of the SP500 index for the last 25 years. Source:

 

How To Invest In the Dividend Aristocrats?

Well, we have a cool investment strategy, but now comes the question of how we can put it into action. How can one invest in the Dividend Aristocrats? Well, this turns out to be not such a trivial thing. The list of all of the stocks contained 52 companies in 2009, then 42 companies in 2010, and 54 companies in 2014 (see all current companies in the full list of aristocrats below ). What I am trying to say is that the list constantly changes and maintaining a portfolio of all the stocks that are on the list at every point in time might be not that easy and sometimes expensive. However, here are

3 ways to invest in the Dividend Aristocrats

1. Invest in Dividend Aristocrats ETF

There are ETF funds that always maintain a portfolio of all Dividend Aristocrats, most of them track the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index, introduced in 1989. You can invest in such a fund and leave all the work of managing the portfolio to the professionals. This might be the best option for people who have no idea of how the stock market works or how to buy shares. ETFs also have some advantages like low maintenance fees and tax benefits, so you should really consider this option. Such funds are:

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SPDR S&P Dividend (SDY)

The ProShares S&P 500® Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL) (0.78% expense ratio)

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG)

2. Buy the stocks directly

As we said earlier, you can invest directly in the stocks of all Dividend Aristocrats companies. You can split your money into 54 parts (currently the list consists of 54 stocks) and invest each piece of cash in one of the companies. Good so far, but the bad thing is that the list is constantly updated every year. This means that every year, you should change your portfolio in order to copy the changes to the list. This might be an expensive procedure for smaller portfolios. The average cost of buying a stock in the USA is around $ 8. This means you must spend at least $432 to buy every company on the list at first and around $50-$100 to maintain your portfolio every single year after. These expenses might be much more compared to the 0.78% expense ration of the NOBL fund.

The Dividend Aristocrats List and Index (2022)

Dividend Aristocrats are companies that have increased their dividend payments for 25 consecutive years or more. These stocks comprise the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index and they offer investors a unique opportunity to capture reliable and consistent income with stability. Now, you may be wondering which these companies actually are. Here is a list of all dividend aristocrats in 2022

 

COMPANY SECTOR YEARS OF DIVIDEND GROWTH DIVIDEND YIELD
3M Co. (MMM) Industrials 64 3.70%
A.O. Smith Corp. (AOS) Industrials 29 1.50%
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Health care 50 1.50%
AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) Health care 50 4.50%
Aflac Inc. (AFL) Financials 39 2.50%
Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (APD) Materials 40 2.60%
Albemarle Corp. (ALB) Materials 28 0.70%
Amcor PLC (AMCR) Materials 39 4.20%
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) Consumer staples 48 2.10%
Atmos Energy Corp. (ATO) Utilities 35 2.60%
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) Information technology 47 2.00%
Becton, Dickinson & Co. (BDX) Health care 50 1.30%
Brown & Brown Inc. (BRO) Financials 28 0.60%
Brown-Forman Corp. (BF-B) Consumer staples 38 1.10%
Cardinal Health Inc. (CAH) Health care 35 3.60%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) Industrials 28 2.20%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) Energy 35 4.10%
Chubb Ltd. (CB) Financials 29 1.60%
Church & Dwight Co. Inc. (CHD) Consumer staples 26 1.00%
Cincinnati Financial Corp. (CINF) Financials 62 2.20%
Cintas Corp. (CTAS) Industrials 38 1.00%
The Clorox Co. (CLX) Consumer staples 46 3.20%
The Coca-Cola Co. (KO) Consumer staples 60 2.70%
Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL) Consumer staples 60 2.20%
Consolidated Edison Inc. (ED) Utilities 48 3.70%
Dover Corp. (DOV) Industrials 66 1.20%
Ecolab Inc. (ECL) Materials 30 1.10%
Emerson Electric Co. (EMR) Industrials 60 2.10%
Essex Property Trust Inc. (ESS) Real estate 28 2.70%
Expeditors International of Washington Inc. (EXPD) Industrials 28 1.10%
ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) Energy 38 4.30%
Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT) Real estate 50 3.50%
Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN) Financials 41 3.70%
General Dynamics Corp. (GD) Industrials 31 2.20%
Genuine Parts Co. (GPC) Consumer discretionary 66 2.50%
Hormel Foods Corp. (HRL) Consumer staples 56 2.20%
Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW) Industrials 51 2.20%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) Information technology 26 4.80%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Health care 60 2.50%
Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB) Consumer staples 49 3.50%
Linde PLC (LIN) Materials 29 1.40%
Lowe’s Cos. Inc. (LOW) Consumer discretionary 48 1.40%
McCormick & Co. (MKC) Consumer staples 36 1.40%
McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) Consumer discretionary 45 2.10%
Medtronic PLC (MDT) Health care 44 2.50%
NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE) Utilities 26 2.00%
Nucor Corp. (NUE) Materials 49 1.70%
Pentair PLC (PNR) Industrials 45 1.40%
People’s United Financial Inc. (PBCT) Financials 29 3.40%
PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) Consumer staples 49 2.50%
PPG Industries Inc. (PPG) Materials 50 1.50%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) Consumer staples 66 2.20%
Realty Income Corp. (O) Real estate 27 4.40%
Roper Technologies Inc. (ROP) Industrials 29 0.60%
S&P Global Inc. (SPGI) Financials 49 0.80%
Sherwin-Williams Co. (SHW) Materials 43 0.80%
Stanley Black & Decker Inc. (SWK) Industrials 54 1.90%
Sysco Corp. (SYY) Consumer staples 42 2.30%
T. Rowe Price Group Inc. (TROW) Financials 36 2.90%
Target Corp. (TGT) Consumer discretionary 50 1.70%
VF Corp. (VFC) Consumer discretionary 50 3.20%
W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW) Industrials 51 1.30%
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) Consumer staples 46 3.80%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) Consumer staples 49 1.60%
West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. (WST) Health care 29 0.20%
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Dividend aristocrats are attractive investment options for those looking to capture reliable and consistent income with stability. However, it’s important to remember that these stocks come with their own set of risks. As with all investments, ensuring that dividend aristocrats fit within your overall investment strategy is essential before deciding to invest.

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