Many dividend stocks lost their luster in 2022 and 2023 as rising interest rates drove jittery investors toward safer CDs, Treasury bills, and other fixed-income investments. However, many of those high-yielding dividend stocks stabilized in 2024 as the Federal Reserve finally implemented three interest rate cuts.

Five-year, 10-year, and multi-decade charts of market movements all show that stock market sell-offs happen. No one knows when they'll begin, how severe the downturn will be, or how long they'll last.

The year 2025 is just getting started, and investors have as much pressure as ever to get their portfolios set in the right direction, as a few winners in the first half of the year can not only give investors confidence but also plenty of liquidity and room to then pursue the more aggressive deals in the market during the second half of the year.

There are plenty of great stocks that offer attractive dividends and don't cost too much. Here are my picks for the smartest dividend stocks to buy with $100 right now. You can scoop up a share of Ares Capital (NASDAQ: ARCC) for roughly $23 at its current price.

Compiled and published by Fortune Magazine, the Fortune 500 is an annual list that ranks the biggest US companies by revenue.

The "Trump trade" that primarily lifted small and mid-cap stocks post-election has started to fizzle this January. Why? Investors are worried the Federal Reserve won't cut interest rates much this year,

Dividend growth stocks can provide stable income over time, with screening parameters to help passive investors find opportunities. Read more here.

Even after the broad market pullback in recent days, the S&P 500 is still only offering investors a miserly 1.2% yield or so. You can do way better than that with these three stocks, all of which offer yields of more than 4%.

For many, dividend investing is all about the yield. They search for stocks that offer high yields, thinking that’s enough to pull them through the treadmill of life before slowing down in retirement.