It's a common misconception among investors that a high dividend implies that stock is highly volatile or that the company must be in some sort of trouble.There are some cases where this is definitely true. For example, mortgage REITs generally pay dividends of more than 10%, and because of their leverage ratios, they can be some of the more volatile stocks in the market.
Also, there are the "too good to be true" dividends that we see if a company is in trouble. If a company usually pays around 3%, and all of a sudden the share price drops dramatically and the dividend spikes to 8%, it usually means that there's a dividend cut coming or that the company is having serious financial issues.
However, there is such a thing as stable, high-dividend stocks. Here are seven of the best choices for investors who want income but don't want volatility or high risk. All of these pay at least 5% per year and have characteristics that income seekers love -- and they range from basic-needs companies like AT&T (T +2.04%) to diversified holding company Icahn Enterprises (IEP +0.62%).
