Over long periods, Wall Street is nothing short of a wealth-building machine for patient investors. While there are countless strategies investors can employ to grow their nest egg in the stock market, buying and holding high-quality dividend stocks tends to be among the smartest ways to make money.

Last year, the Hartford Funds, in collaboration with Ned Davis Research, released a report that examined the power of dividend stocks over time. In particular, researchers examined the annualized performance of dividend stocks to nonpayers over the previous half-century (1973-2022). Whereas publicly traded companies that don't offer a payout delivered a modest annualized return of 3.95%, the dividend payers more than doubled up the nonpayers with a 9.18% annualized return.

Image source: Getty Images.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com