Whether you're looking to make some extra dough from dividend income or build defensive investments into your portfolio, Dividend Kings are stocks you should know about these days. What they all have in common is this: they've raised their dividends for at least 50 (yup, 50) consecutive years.

The capacity to build such an impressive track record of payouts shows them to be among the most financially stable businesses, and makes them great choices as long-term investments for a portion of your nest egg. 

In my view, there are three Dividend Kings worthy of special attention right now. Let's see how a $5,000 investment spread across this trio could boost your finances for decades to come. 

1. AbbVie

As the maker of Humira, one of the top-grossing drugs of all time, AbbVie (ABBV 1.06%) is practically a money printer with free cash flow topping $21.9 billion in 2021.

While Humira is in the process of going off patent, the company should continue to be in good shape thanks to sales of its constantly expanding portfolio of medicines. In 2023 alone, AbbVie could see as many as eight of its programs get approved by regulators, and with a myriad of oncology and immunology candidates in mid-stage clinical trials, it should deliver similar performance in the years that follow.

Since 2013, AbbVie's management has grown its dividend by 270%, and at the current share price, it has a forward yield of nearly 3.7%. If you invest one-third of $5,000 ($1,666) in it, you'd get $61.66 in dividend income after a year, which doesn't sound like much.

But when considering that the payout is likely to continue growing quite rapidly for the foreseeable future, holding AbbVie shares for one year should just be the start, and the biggest rewards will come to those who are the most patient.

2. Becton, Dickinson

Becton, Dickinson (BDX 0.42%) is an "everything company" in the healthcare sector, selling everything from syringes to diagnostic tests, medical devices, and scientific instruments for use in biomedical research.

That means it's buoyed by long-term growth trends in multiple industries, including pharma, biotech, and clinical care. It also means there's a relatively steady level of demand for many of its products, which provides enough predictability for the business to pay its dividend. 

Since late 2013, Becton, Dickinson has boosted its payout by 76% though its forward yield of just above 1.5% is on the low side. Management explicitly endorses the idea of continuing to hike the dividend, and its $3.4 billion of free cash flow in 2021 suggests it will be feasible for it to do so.

Investing $1,666 into Becton, Dickinson today probably won't result in returns that beat the market anytime soon, but its payout ratio of around 52% means that there's plenty of room to keep raising the dividend for years, even in the absence of significant earnings growth -- and that should give investors a measure of confidence in its sustainability.

3. Abbott Laboratories

Much like Becton, Dickinson, Abbott Laboratories (ABT 1.91%) wears many hats. The range of its product offerings spans from baby formula and glucose monitors to coronavirus tests and surgical sets for use in operating rooms.

As it competes in so many different product segments, it has the benefit of a durable top line that's resilient to disruption from economic phenomena or encroaching competition. After all, even if customers defect to another supplier for cardiac stents or some other product, each one accounts for just a tiny slice of Abbott's trailing 12-month revenue of $45 billion.

Abbott Labs isn't new to curating its mix of products to favor what's in demand, and the speed with which it developed rapid coronavirus diagnostic tests at the start of the pandemic demonstrates that it's still quite agile for such a large and established business. That dynamism is core to its long-term appeal.

In the last 10 years, the company has boosted its dividend by 236%. Presently, it yields a hair over 1.9%. Investing the remainder of your $5,000 in Abbott is unlikely to get you rich quickly, but it'll help you to accumulate wealth slowly and without major pullbacks.