I have invested in dividends for 25 years—These high-yield picks have never let me down

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Maybe it’s a cliche, but really is true that going slow and steady wins the race. After 25 successful years of investing, I have concluded that holding a handful of high-quality dividend-paying stocks can reward you handsomely in the long run.

The rewards can be even greater if you consistently take the quarterly cash dividend payments and reinvest them into more shares. Three specific stocks in particular are high-yielding blue-chip giants that have never let me down. Feel free to add these ultra-consistent dividend delivery machines to your portfolio, and remember to leverage the compounding effect by reinvesting whenever you can.

Verizon Communications (VZ)

You probably know Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) as a telecom titan that powers cell phone networks. Yet, you might not be aware that Verizon is a spectacular passive income purveyor.

It’s safe to say that Verizon is a market leader that’s constantly in expansion mode. For instance, Verizon and Tillman Global Holdings just teamed up with Eaton Fiber LLC to bring speedy fiber service to more homes.

Investing in Verizon stock for 25 years has been a no-brainer. The company’s dividends have been respectable and reliable, and Verizon’s 7.11% forward annual dividend yield is, you must admit, outstanding for a mega-cap stock.

Sure, I could have just kept or spent Verizon’s cash dividend payouts, but the plan all along was to immediately buy more shares with that cash. This plan worked out extremely well, as buying $10,000 worth of VZ stock on January 3, 2000, and reinvesting all dividends through October 24, 2025, resulted in a final value of $24,986.23.

This simple strategy provided total returns of 150.07% over a 25-year time frame. You can implement this same plan over the next quarter-century, and you may be able to automate the dividend-reinvestment process through your broker.

T. Rowe Price (TROW)

Next up is asset management firm T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ:TROW), which might not sound like the most exciting company in the world. When you learn about T. Rowe Price’s generous dividends, however, you’ll surely start paying attention to this financial-sector fixture.

I’m happy to introduce you to T. Rowe Price if you’re not very familiar with this firm. This company reported a mind-blowing $1.767 worth of assets under management (AUM) as of September 30, 2025; that’s roughly 10% higher than the $1.607 trillion in AUM that T. Rowe Price had recorded as of December 31, 2024.

Here’s another notable fact: around two-thirds of T. Rowe Price’s AUM are retirement-related. This suggests that T. Rowe Price is a “steady Eddie” type of financial firm that emphasizes conservative investment approaches rather than get-rich-quick schemes. 

Being a “steady Eddie” company doesn’t mean T. Rowe Price is a stingy dividend payer, though. Currently, T. Rowe Price offers an eye-catching forward annual dividend yield of 4.91%.

Staying the course with TROW stock with a dividend-compounding strategy certainly paid off during the past quarter-century. All you needed to do was buy $10,000 worth of T. Rowe Price shares at the beginning of 2000 and keep on reinvesting the dividends, and you would have ended up with $118,003.95.

Moreover, this dividend-reinvestment plan with TROW stock would have resulted in total returns of 1,078.68% after 25 years. Hence, this seemingly “steady Eddie” company could have produced mind-blowing, quadruple-digit percentage returns for loyal investors.

Target (TGT)

Rounding out this triple-play of dividend royalty, we’ll now go shopping for yield with big-box retail store chain Target (NYSE:TGT). The company is somewhat out of favor at the moment, but contrarian investors might see a buying opportunity as Target embarks on a major turnaround plan.

Target’s trailing 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 11x might appeal to value hunters, and the company’s 4.84% forward annual dividend yield ought to impress passive income investors. All in all, TGT could be a hidden gem for a patient buy-and-hold strategy.

Better yet, you could consider a reinvest-the-distributions strategy with Target stock. Just imagine if you had started out with $10,000 worth of TGT shares on January 3, 2000, and then relentlessly funneled the quarterly dividend payments back into more shares.

The outcome would have been a tidy profit, to say the least. Your $10,000 initial investment in Target stock would have turned into $43,726.36 as of October 24, 2025. To put it in percentage terms, you would have achieved a 337.22% total return in a 25-year time span.

My experiences with high-yield blue-chip stocks like VZ, TROW, and TGT show that you don’t need thrills and huge risks to get great results. It just takes a quality-first focus, a patient dividend-compounding approach, and a willingness to sacrifice excitement for consistency to win in the end.

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