What is Dividend Growth Investing?

   I enjoy a long term investing source called Dividend Growth Investing. Dividend Growth Investing is when you invest in strong companies that have been paying and raising dividends for a long time. My entry point for a stock would be when they have been raising there dividend for at least 10 consecutive years. They key to success with a Dividend Growth strategy is researching the stocks you want to invest in as in depth as possible. It takes countless hours to research a stock you are going to add to your portfolio. I also want to stay diversified in my portfolio having at least 30 different stocks from as many different types of sectors as possible. This allows you to have some fluctuations in different markets and also if a company that you have a position in cuts there dividend then your over all portfolio is not going to take a big hit and you will have time to sell it and get into another dividend growth stock.

  The reason most investors prefer the dividend growth strategy is that you get payments all the time usually every quarter for most stocks and some pay in different months so you could be getting a dividend payout every month. So once you get to a point where you can live comfortably off of your dividends then you can go ahead and retire and start getting your payments right away instead of waiting until you are 59 and a 1/2 like most retirement plans and 401Ks.

    Below are a few Dividend Growth Stocks that I either have in my portfolio or that I am following with intentions on initiating a position in them in the near future.

   1. Walgreen's:(Wag) Walgreen's been up and down lately but is at a good price to buy. Walgreen's has paid dividends since 1933 has raised its distributions for 37 straight years. At this point I would consider a good addition to any Dividend Growth Investors portfolio.

2. Medtronic: (MDT) Medtronic is a medical device company that has had great success keeping up with today's medical technology needs. I feel like Medtronic will be arouund for the long haul. They have paid dividends since 1977 and have increased them every year for the last 35 years making them one of my favorite long term dividend stock picks.