There are about 13,000 publicly-traded securities on U.S. exchanges. Of those, only about 2,000 of those stocks pay a dividend.

Now, any knucklehead with a computer can generate a list of the market’s highest-yielding stocks in five minutes, but that’s no way to find a good investment. Investing is not as simple as buying anything with a double-digit yield.

I’ve warned my High-Yield Investing premium readers about blindly buying these super-aggressive yielders. Nine times out of 10, a stock yielding 15% is likely in big trouble.

But today, I want to show you how I find reliable, healthy dividend-paying stocks. And I’ll explain why they are essential to building long-term wealth…

My 5-Part “Dividend Optimizer” Model

Every security I recommend to High-Yield Investing readers is put through a rigorous analytical boot camp before I even consider mentioning it. I must be sure that a high yield isn’t a trap in disguise.

I start off with a large pool of growing companies yielding at least 5%. Then I run them through my “dividend optimizer” model to make sure they have all these key traits necessary for a steady and lasting income stream:

1. A long history of improving earnings. In general, the longer a firm has been profitable, the more likely it is to deliver steady returns in the coming years.

2. Consistent and growing dividend payments. I want to see steadily increasing dividends with no declines or missed payments.

3. Strong cash flows. Since you can’t pay dividends without cash, I need to find companies that are generating above-average amounts of cash every year.

4. Strong projected growth. Growing firms are more likely to be able to boost their dividends in the future.

5. A sustainable payout ratio. Firms occasionally pay out 100% or more of their earnings to shareholders. They can’t do this for long without cutting their dividend. I avoid unsustainable dividend payouts.

The dividend-payers that I recommend in my High-Yield Investing premium newsletter offer the most compelling risk-reward trade-off you can find. These securities provide a smooth ride while producing market-beating returns, instead of heart-stopping peaks and plunges. Bottom line, they are far less volatile.

The Only Thing Better Than A Generous Dividend

You see, it’s not the specific level of yield that matters to me — although it’s a great feeling to pocket 10% a year in cash. What really counts is that the companies are actually paying them. Dividends are a sign of financial strength; of a real business making real profits.

Dividends require executives to use capital efficiently. Such practices send a clear message that management is treating shareholders right by paying them the profits they deserve as co-owners of the business.

What’s more, a steady stream of dividends indicates that a company keeps straight books. You can hide a lot of bad news with tricky accounting, but you can’t fake dividends.

But there’s one thing that’s better than a generous dividend… a generous and growing dividend. And there’s only one way to consistently raise dividends: by growing cash flow.

Any company that can do that year after year will create a near-miraculous pile of money for you. Here’s what I mean…

Altria (NYSE: MO), which most investors dismiss as a stodgy company, is a perfect example of this phenomenon. There’s nothing fancy about making wine and cigarettes. But it was able to string together a remarkable run of high dividends and 15%-to-20% growth. This led to some of the best long-term returns of any investment of the past two decades.

While $10,000 invested in the S&P 500 in 1997 grew into a substantial $45,500 by 2017, that same $10,000 put into Altria exploded into $223,284. You can attribute the bulk of that remarkable gain to Altria’s decades-long record of high and rising dividends.

Action To Take

To be fair, the Altria story is a particularly strong example of the miracle of compounded dividends. And I wouldn’t recommend adding this stock to your portfolio today.

The point is, finding a company like this by picking one of the 2,000-plus dividend payers out of a hat would be near impossible. But this example is far from unique. With the criteria I outlined above, you can find hidden gems like this with relative ease.

If you think about it, it’s one of the few free lunches in investing: You can get better returns and lower risk just by purchasing dividend-paying stocks. So, if you want to keep your money out of long-term losers like T-bills or CDs and put it to work in tireless investments that will never stop making you money, then you need to have them in your portfolio.

If you’re looking for safe high-yielders to put in your portfolio today, then you need to check out my latest report…

I’ve identified 5 safe, high-yield stocks that allow you to keep it simple. Each one has proven to hold up well in any market — providing stellar long-term returns and paying increasing dividends every single year.

You can forget about meme stocks, volatile cryptocurrencies, and complicated trading strategies… With picks like this in your portfolio, you may never have to worry about what the market is doing again…

Go here to learn more about these picks now.