Your Survival Guy wants you to get paid to invest in stocks. If you don’t have dividend religion, it may be time we talked. Hannah Erin Lang reports on investors choosing dividends for defense in The Wall Street Journal, writing:
Rattled by the threat of trade restrictions and a slowing economy, some investors are turning to a classic defensive play: dividend stocks.
Shares of companies that offer relatively hefty cash payouts are beating the broader market this year. Some of the market’s largest dividend-focused funds, such as the Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF SCHD 1.39%increase; green up pointing triangle and the SPDR S&P Dividend ETF, have risen more than 4% in 2025, even as major indexes slipped into the red.
Some of the largest dividend payers have posted significant gains. The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats—an index of companies that have raised dividends in each of the past 25 years—has returned about 3.5% this year, counting price changes and dividend payments as of Thursday’s market close. The index constituents Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson have both notched double-digit-percentage increases in 2025. Meanwhile, recent stock-market stars including Nvidia and Broadcom have sunk more than 15%.
As President Trump’s tariff threats helped drag the S&P 500 on Friday to its worst week since September, some money managers said such time-tested stocks, and their regular cash payments, could shine even brighter in the months ahead.
Action Line: Dividends generate income for compounding. Compounding puts time on your side. When you want to talk about money and time, email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com. I’ll know you’re serious.
