If you'd like to build a reliable passive income stream, there are more than a few ways to go about it. Acquiring rental properties is a popular option, but then you'll need to manage those properties.

If you prefer a hands-off approach, it's hard to do better than dividend-paying stocks. They generate a genuinely passive income stream that shows up in your account regardless of whether you pay attention to their underlying businesses.

Splitting an investment of around $31,000 between these three dividend-paying stocks would give you about $3,000 in annual dividend income to start. Their payouts aren't guaranteed, but there are good reasons to expect steadily rising cash flows in the years ahead.

1. AT&T: A 6.82% yield

After spinning off DirecTV in 2021 and WarnerMedia in 2022, AT&T (T -1.86%) is a relatively simple telecom business again. There will be far fewer pop culture references during its earnings calls, but income investors won't have any trouble getting over the loss.

At the moment, an investment of $14,700 is enough to secure $1,000 per year in annual dividend income from AT&T stock. Steadily growing cash flows from phone and internet subscribers mean management could announce some dividend raises in the foreseeable future, too.

AT&T generated $13.6 billion in free cash flow over the past year, and meeting its dividend commitment chewed through nearly 60% of this sum. As a fully mature business, AT&T isn't growing by leaps and bounds, but its recent streamlining is boosting the bottom line. First-quarter operating income rose 9% year over year.

With reliably growing cash flows from internet and phone subscribers, AT&T looks like a great stock for income investors who want a high yield now and a chance for steady dividend raises in the years ahead.

2. Medical Properties Trust: A 15.1% yield

If you don't want to wait for steady dividend growth, consider Medical Properties Trust (MPW -2.59%) stock. This is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns around 444 hospitals and related facilities.

Income-seeking investors love REITs because these businesses can avoid taxes as long as they return at least 90% of profits to shareholders as a dividend. Medical Properties Trust hasn't raised its dividend in over a year, but its stock price has fallen by more than half. This stock offers such a high yield right now that an investment of just $6,700 is more than enough to receive $1,000 in annual dividend income. 

Instead of running its own facilities, Medical Properties Trust leases them out to 54 operators. The company's cash flows are generally reliable because it gets operators to sign long-term net leases that transfer all the variable costs associated with building ownership to the operator.

Shares of this REIT have been under a lot of pressure because some of its tenants are struggling, and one didn't pay any rent in the first quarter. Prospect Medical was responsible for 9.4% of total revenue in the previous-year period.

This year, Medical Properties Trust expects funds from operations (FFO), a proxy for earnings used to evaluate REITs, to come in at $1.50 per share if Prospect doesn't pay any rent in 2023. This is more than enough to cover the REIT's dividend, currently set at $1.16 per share annually. While there could be unforeseen trouble ahead that causes this company to slash its payout, it's probably worth the risk at the moment.

3. Ares Capital: A 10.26% yield

Ares Capital (ARCC -0.66%) is a business development company. Like REITs, these specialized investment vehicles don't have to pay income taxes, so long as they distribute at least 90% of profits. You could get the company to distribute $1,000 to your account annually with an investment of just $9,750 right now.

Ares Capital is essentially a lender, but it doesn't lend out cash to any business that comes calling. It sticks with midsized companies that have plenty of reliable cash flow to repay their loans. Big banks tend to ignore middle-market companies, an opportunity that allows Ares Capital to realize a wide profit margin.

More than two-thirds of the loans on Ares Capital's books collect interest at floating rates. In the first quarter, the average yield on its investments rose to 10.9%, from 8.1% a year earlier.

A wider net margin between the interest rates Ares Capital borrows at and the rates it receives on its loans drove first-quarter investment income up 46% higher year over year. 

Investors should know that unpaid loans rose to 2.3% of total investments from just 1.7% during the previous quarter. This is a manageable level now, but investors will want to keep an eye on this figure in the quarters ahead.