Image source: Getty Images.
If you're in your 70s, you'll likely appreciate an investment that can supply you with a steadily rising stream of income. One that can help support you in retirement and that you can count on year after year. Fortunately, there are some stocks that fit the bill. Read on to learn about two of the best.
Image Source: Johnson & Johnson.
The healthcare colossus
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 0.22%) has delivered 54 consecutive years of dividend increases, including 9% annualized dividend growth over the past decade. Helping to fuel this impressive performance are a collection of over 250 health-focused operating companies spanning across 60 countries.
Healthcare is an essential industry, for which multiple long-term trends should fuel rising demand:
- Population growth means more people will need access to proper healthcare.
- An expanding global middle class will make healthcare more affordable for millions of people around the world as their purchasing power improves.
- Increasing life expectancies will lead people to depend on health products and services for longer, and likely more often, than they do now.
With its wide global footprint, Johnson & Johnson is particularly well positioned to profit from these megatrends. Many of the dollars that will be spent on healthcare products and services in the coming years will flow into Johnson & Johnson's coffers and, ultimately, into the hands of its shareholders.
Yet Johnson & Johnson is not resting on its laurels and simply waiting for a rising tide to lift all boats. The company is investing aggressively in research and development -- including $9 billion in 2015 alone -- which has produced a well-stocked pipeline of promising new drugs. Management is also on the hunt for acquisitions, which can serve to add another element of growth and further strengthen J&J's drug portfolio and medical technologies.
All told, Johnson & Johnson has rewarded its shareholders since its initial public offering in 1944. And with its mission to help people everywhere live longer, healthier, happier lives, the healthcare giant should continue to do so for decades to come.
Image Source: Waste Management.
The trash titan
Older and naturally more risk-averse investors can also look toward another essential industry to satisfy their income needs: waste collection. And within this field, one company reigns supreme.
The aptly named Waste Management (WM 0.57%) is the leading provider of waste collection and recycling solutions in North America, serving more than 21 million customers in the U.S. and Canada. The company owns the largest network of recycling facilities, transfer stations, and landfills in the industry. This creates an enormous competitive moat around Waste Management's business, as the not-in-my-backyard attitude among many homeowners and notoriously difficult regulatory approval process for new waste facilities make it unlikely that competitors will be able to displace the garbage king.
With its revenue streams and cash flows well protected, Waste Management is able to reward its investors with share repurchases and a steadily rising dividend -- both of which help to support its stock price.
Unless people stop producing garbage, the company's 13-year streak of consecutive dividend increases is likely to continue unabated. As such, Waste Management is the type of stock that investors in their seventies can count on to help fund their retirements for many years to come.
