The 6 Greatest Dividend Investors of All Time (2024)

The 6 greatest dividend investors of all time use dividend accumulation and reinvestment to amass million and billion dollar portfolios.

Dividends are a powerful tool. While the cash distributions from dividend-paying equities can provide wonderful passive income for living expenses, reinvested dividends have the potential to grow exponentially and bring a far greater payday in the future.

The 6 Greatest Dividend Investors of All Time (1)

Advertisement.

The greatest dividend investors of all time knew this — they recognized that dividends are not only a convenient cash payout, but a sign of a good company with regular profit and steady growth. They reinvested their dividend income over years or even decades and reaped the rewards as stock prices flew higher and higher.

Patience Rewarded the 6 Greatest Dividend Investors of All Time

While some of the investors on this list are billionaire fund managers and famed economists, others are unremarkable by comparison. They do, however, serve as more perfect examples of how the power of dividends, when combined with patience, can build a massive portfolio. These average citizens are some of the greatest dividend investors of all time, not due to their brilliance or revolutionary investing strategy, but because they took no shortcuts and made millions doing exactly what they were supposed to do: invest, reinvest and wait.

While not everyone can be a Warren Buffett, patience and due diligence can lead any investor to hold multi-million dollar portfolios paying thousands of dollars every month. So, made of both average Joes and investing icons, here is the list of the six greatest dividend investors of all time.

The 6 Greatest Dividend Investors of All Time, #6:

Ronald Read

Ronald Read was an average Joe investor lacking an MBA, finance degree, or notable professional experience. He did have, however, an $8 million dividend portfolio paying $20,000 per month at the time of his death in 2015.

The story of Ronald Read is largely inspirational in the simplicity of his investing strategy: buy blue-chip, dividend-paying stocks, then hold. Read reinvested nearly all of his dividends and held onto much of his portfolio for decades, patiently accumulating income and additional shares.

Advertisement.

The 6 Greatest Dividend Investors of All Time, #5:

Grace Groner

Grace Groner is a lesser-known investor who embodied the principle of buy, hold and reinvest. Groner worked as a secretary at Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) for 43 years. Early in her career in 1935, she invested $180 in three shares of Abbott. She never sold and instead opted to reinvest all of her dividends. After 75 years, she had $7 million.

Groner was not a fund manager or famed economist, unlike most others on this list, but she is a perfect example of the “millionaire next door” that had no incredible brilliance about her or unique strategy behind her success. She simply invested in quality dividend-paying equities, waited, and let the dividends do the work.

The 6 Greatest Dividend Investors of All Time, #4:

Bill Ackman

Bill Ackman, an activist investor mentored by Warren Buffett, is the billionaire fund-manager of Pershing Square Holdings. His fund has outperformed the S&P 500 as well as his mentor’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK_B) in the last three years. More notably, over half (roughly 60%) of its portfolio holdings are invested in dividend stocks.

Outside of dividend investments, Ackman is famous for his successful takeovers of Canadian Pacific, Fortune Brands and Allergan. These victories as an activist investor gave him billions of dollars in profits, allowing for more aggressive reinvestment in stable, dividend-paying equities.

The 6 Greatest Dividend Investors of All Time, #3:

John Templeton

Sir John Templeton began managing the Templeton Growth Fund in 1954 and continued to guide its investments through 1992. An investor, trusting Templeton with $10,000 when his management of Templeton Growth Fund began, would have amassed $2 million at the end of 1992 by reinvesting all the dividend payouts .

While Templeton was also widely considered a contrarian, many of his anti-market investments were low-risk, dividend-paying stocks merely overlooked by others. He had a knack for taking extreme bear markets as an opportunity to buy dividend growth stocks, as well as bankrupt companies likely to reinstate their dividend in the near future.

The 6 Greatest Dividend Investors of All Time, #2:

Benjamin Graham

Benjamin Graham was a British-born American investor famous for mentoring Warren Buffett. He is known in investing circles as the “father of value investing” and authored some of the most important investment books written to date: “Security Analysis with David Dodd and The Intelligent Investor.”

Although he was a value investor first, Graham had a strong preference for dividend-paying stocks. He recommended investors refer to the S&P 500’s rating system and only invest in equities with a Dividend rating of B or higher.

What is unique about Graham’s dividend philosophy is his preference for stock dividends over cash — the investor believed they are tax-advantaged whilst offering greater practical and psychological benefits to shareholders.

Advertisement.

The 6 Greatest Dividend Investors of All Time, #1:

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is widely considered the greatest investor of all time, and much of his investment strategy relies on collecting dividend payments.

Buffett’s investing style favors consistent high-dividend payments over multiple years, viewing them as a massive “green flag” for a company — they signal a sustainable, profitable business model with the potential to reward shareholders in the long run. A huge amount of profit flowing into Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK_B) is from dividend investments. In 2021 alone, the company is expected to collect $3.8 billion in dividend distributions.

Berkshire Hathaway itself, however, has only ever paid a dividend to its shareholders once, and Buffett considers that one a mistake to this day. The investor prefers to hold cash, believing it is more valuable in his hands to take advantage of reinvestment opportunities than paying distributions to his shareholders. Even though Buffett refuses to pay a dividend himself, so much of his success has relied on dividend income that we can confidently say he is the greatest dividend investor of all time.

Related Articles:

The Ultimate List of Dividend Champions

One Amazing Dividend Stock to Buy Now

The Dividend Aristocrats List

Dividend increases and dividend decreases, new dividend announcements, dividend suspensions and other dividend changes occur daily. To make sure you don’t miss any important announcements, sign up for ourE-mail Alerts. Let us do the hard work of gathering the data and sending the relevant information directly to your inbox.

In addition to E-mail Alerts, you will have access to our powerful dividend research tools. Take a quickvideo tourof the tools suite.

Advertisement.

The 6 Greatest Dividend Investors of All Time (2024)

FAQs

Who is the best dividend investor of all time? ›

Warren Buffett is widely considered the greatest investor of all time, and much of his investment strategy relies on collecting dividend payments.

Who pays the highest dividends? ›

20 high-dividend stocks
CompanyDividend Yield
Eagle Bancorp Inc (MD) (EGBN)9.68%
Civitas Resources Inc (CIVI)9.45%
Altria Group Inc. (MO)9.18%
CVR Energy Inc (CVI)9.17%
17 more rows
May 1, 2024

Who is the greatest investor of all time? ›

Warren Buffett is widely considered the greatest investor in the world. Born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett began investing at a young age and became the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, one of the world's largest and most successful investment firms.

What are the top 5 dividend stocks to buy? ›

10 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy
  • Verizon Communications VZ.
  • Johnson & Johnson JNJ.
  • Altria Group MO.
  • Comcast CMCSA.
  • Medtronic MDT.
  • Duke Energy DUK.
  • PNC Financial Services PNC.
  • Kinder Morgan KMI.
7 days ago

What is the king of dividends? ›

A Dividend King is a publicly traded company that has both paid and increased a regular dividend every year for at least 50 consecutive years.

What are the three dividend stocks to buy and hold forever? ›

Got $1,000? 3 Dividend Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever
  • Johnson & Johnson is a steady portfolio stalwart.
  • Abbott Labs has exciting growth opportunities ahead.
  • Pfizer isn't in as bad a shape as the share price indicates.
1 day ago

What stock pays the highest monthly dividend? ›

Top 10 Highest-Yielding Monthly Dividend Stocks in 2022
  • What dividends and REITs are.
  • ARMOUR Residential REIT – 20.7%
  • Orchid Island Capital – 17.8%
  • AGNC Investment – 14.8%
  • Oxford Square Capital – 13.7%
  • Ellington Residential Mortgage REIT – 13.2%
  • SLR Investment – 11.5%
  • PennantPark Floating Rate Capital – 10%

What is the longest paying dividend stock? ›

Dividend kings list 2024
NameTickerStreak (years)
Coca-Cola CoKO61
Colgate-Palmolive Co.CL61
Commerce Bancshares, Inc.CBSH54
Dover Corp.DOV68
39 more rows

What is the highest yielding dividend? ›

Top 100 Highest Dividend Yield ETFs
SymbolNameDividend Yield
MSFOYieldMax MSFT Option Income Strategy ETF22.21%
RYSEVest 10 Year Interest Rate Hedge ETF22.20%
MSTYYieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF22.11%
AAPBGraniteShares 2x Long AAPL Daily ETF22.04%
93 more rows

Who is the smartest investors? ›

Image source: The Motley Fool.
  • Warren Buffett. Warren Buffett is arguably the most well-known investor, for good reason. ...
  • Charlie Munger. ...
  • Seth Klarman. ...
  • Hetty Green. ...
  • John Neff. ...
  • Joel Greenblatt. ...
  • Jack Bogle.
Mar 4, 2024

Who is the most powerful man in the stock market? ›

Investors buy and hold for longer-term growth rather than trade in and out every day. Warren Buffett is often cited as the most successful investor of all time through his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway.

Who is the number 1 investor in America? ›

Warren Buffett is often considered the world's best investor of modern times.

Is Coca-Cola a dividend stock? ›

The Coca-Cola Company's ( KO ) dividend yield is 3.1%, which means that for every $100 invested in the company's stock, investors would receive $3.10 in dividends per year. The Coca-Cola Company's payout ratio is 73.72% which means that 73.72% of the company's earnings are paid out as dividends.

What is the best dividend stock for retirement? ›

7 Dividend Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever
StockForward Yield*
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (ticker: JPM)2.4%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG)2.4%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)3.3%
Home Depot Inc. (HD)2.6%
3 more rows

Which stock has given highest dividend? ›

Highest Dividend Yield Shares
S.No.NameCMP Rs.
1.Taparia Tools4.27
2.Coal India454.65
3.Bhansali Engg.96.20
4.O N G C272.00
23 more rows

Who gets highest dividend? ›

Overview of the Top Dividend Paying Stocks in India
  • Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. ...
  • HDFC Bank Ltd. ...
  • ICICI Bank Ltd. ...
  • Hindustan Unilever Ltd. ...
  • ITC Ltd. ...
  • State Bank of India. ...
  • Infosys Ltd. ...
  • Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd.
Feb 22, 2024

Who is the longest dividend payer? ›

Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) is a Dividend King with one of the longest dividend payout records, paying regular dividends to shareholders for the past 128 years. The company has been raising its dividends consistently for the past 60 years.

Who is the number one investor in the world? ›

Warren Buffett is widely considered to be the most successful investor in history. Not only is he one of the richest men in the world, but he also has had the financial ear of numerous presidents and world leaders. When Buffett talks, world markets move based on his words.

What is the best historical dividend stock? ›

Some of the greatest dividend stocks on Earth are brand-name, time-tested companies that have been increasing their payouts for decades. Perfect examples include Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), which have each increased their base annual payouts for 61 consecutive years.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Gov. Deandrea McKenzie

Last Updated:

Views: 5597

Rating: 4.6 / 5 (66 voted)

Reviews: 89% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Gov. Deandrea McKenzie

Birthday: 2001-01-17

Address: Suite 769 2454 Marsha Coves, Debbieton, MS 95002

Phone: +813077629322

Job: Real-Estate Executive

Hobby: Archery, Metal detecting, Kitesurfing, Genealogy, Kitesurfing, Calligraphy, Roller skating

Introduction: My name is Gov. Deandrea McKenzie, I am a spotless, clean, glamorous, sparkling, adventurous, nice, brainy person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.