3 High-Yielding Dividend Stocks That Retirees Can Buy and Forget About

David Jagielski, The Motley Fool

Thu, Apr 3, 2025, 6:00 AM 5 min read

"Buy and hold" is a simple strategy for investors, but it can be a hard one to stick to in actual practice. That's because many people want to pick stocks and trade them, and feel like they need to actively intervene to generate significant gains. But often, just leaving your investments alone is the best thing to do.

Take the three stocks listed below as examples. A $1,000 investment into each of them 20 years ago would now be worth more than $100,000. Not every long-term investment will turn out that way, but investing a modest amount of money in growth stocks and letting it sit can be your best financial move.

Retirees on the lookout for some reliable dividend stocks can find plenty of attractive buying opportunities in the markets today. The stocks listed here can provide you with high yields and be safe investments to just buy and forget about, regardless of what's happening in the market.

Three stocks which I'd recommend retirees consider adding to their portfolios today are AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), and Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB). They have all generated positive gains this year, as buyers have been flocking to them as safe-haven investments. Here's a look at why these can be great stocks to buy and hold for the long run.

Pharma stock AbbVie provides investors with an above-average yield of 3.2%, which is more than double the current S&P 500 average of 1.3%. The company has been increasing its dividend for years, and that streak extends to more than 50 years if you include the time when it was part of Abbott Laboratories. Since the spinoff in 2013, the dividend has skyrocketed by 310%.

AbbVie's business is diverse, featuring products in multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, aesthetics, and neuroscience. The only one of those areas that didn't generate positive year-over-year growth in 2024 was aesthetics (down 2%). However, as demand for weight loss drugs continues to soar, there could also be much stronger demand for Botox (which is part of the segment), potentially making this a much better growth catalyst in the future.

AbbVie is a top stock to own in healthcare. Trading at 17 times its future earnings, based on analyst expectations, it's also a fairly cheap option to add to your portfolio.

Another top dividend growth stock is oil and gas producer ExxonMobil. Its current yield is a bit higher at 3.4%. It also has an impressive streak going: The company has boosted its payout for 42 consecutive years, with the latest being a 4% bump.