A retirement portfolio needs businesses that can keep rewarding shareholders long after the current market narrative fades. Dividends show how important those quieter sources of return can be: according to S&P Dow Jones Indices research cited in our coverage of Dividend Aristocrat stocks, dividends have accounted for roughly 31% of the S&P 500's total return since 1926, with capital appreciation accounting for the remaining 69%. In the 1940s and 1970s, dividend income accounted for more than half of total returns. The lesson is not that every retirement investment must pay dividends, but rather that long-term shareholder gains can come from sources other than rising share prices. Warren Buffett offers a useful test for that level of dedication.
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