See also
5 REIT Dividends You Could Retire On Forever claims that REIT dividends can be “forever”. I doubt it.
Jack Zhang told me a story of a Taiwanese retiree who bought ConEdison in the 1960’s and now receiving annual dividends that are probably around 100% of principal (100% DYOC). He also shows me Yahoo finance has complete dividend history. You can see how stable a company’s dividends really are. Now I feel such stories are rare and require luck similar to buying the a tech super-stock, or “right property at the right time” — basically lottery picking.
— compare to bonds.. Stocks are riskier than bonds, but among all stocks, I feel utility stocks like T:US are the safer choice for retirees, comparable to high-yield bonds. Appreciation is low but appreciation is secondary compared to reliable dividend.
Compare to investment-grade bond’s coupons, dividend is unstable as foundation for retirement. If you need USD 4k/M, and social security provides $2k, then dividend could fluctuate. In a good year you need to squirrel away the surplus.