If history is any guide, the best thing you can do with your cash is to buy dividend stocks. Numerous studies underscore the idea that dividend stocks outperform their non-paying brethren by a hefty margin.

Several years ago, J.P. Morgan Asset Management found stocks that initiated and then raised their payouts over a 40-year period between 1972 and 2012 returned an average of 9.5% annually versus just 1.6% for non-dividend-paying stocks. Further, over rolling three-year periods, higher-yielding securities beat low- and non-dividend-paying stocks about two-thirds of the time. 

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Source Fool.com