The market offers plenty of stellar long-term picks for a well-diversified portfolio, including stocks designed to protect your retirement income for the long haul.
Here’s a look at three of those stocks that will protect your retirement income.
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Option 1 – A utility stock with five decades of increases
Utility stocks offer investors a stable, recurring income stream wrapped in one of the best defensive moats on the market. And among those utility stocks is one of the most defensive picks on the market, Canadian Utilities (TSX: CU).
Canadian Utilities operates a diversified business that includes electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. The company also offers natural gas transmission and distribution services. Canadian Utilities serves customers in Canada, Australia, and Mexico.
One of the main appeals of a utility stock like Canadian Utilities is the recurring revenue stream that it generates from those business segments. That revenue stream is backed by long-term regulated contracts, which provide additional defensive appeal.
The best reason why Canadian Utilities can protect your retirement income is thanks to its quarterly dividend. As of the time of writing, that dividend works out to a handsome 4.7% yield.
Finally, Canadian Utilities has increased its dividend for 53 consecutive years, making it the longest-running dividend grower on the TSX.
Option 2 – The telecom with the insanely high yield
If you are an investor looking to protect your retirement income, Canada’s big telecom stocks represent another intriguing option to consider. Specifically, I’m referring to Telus (TSX: T).
Telus offers investors a growing source of revenue derived primarily from its core subscription-based services. Those services include wireless, wireline, TV, and Internet. The company also offers a suite of digital services through its Telus Health and Telus Digital arms.
Both provide innovative solutions in the healthcare and digital services verticals. More importantly, both segments have seen impressive growth over the past few years. And speaking of growth, Telus is investing a whopping $70 billion into improving its network across Canada.
That spending also includes investments in its broadband and 5G networks, along with the development of ‘sovereign AI factories’ for the Canadian market.
Turning to income, Telus offers one of the best dividends on the market. The company boasts a quarterly dividend that pays an incredible 7.6% yield.
Adding to that appeal, Telus has provided better-than-annual increases to that dividend, going back two decades without fail.
In short, if you want to protect your retirement income, investing in Telus is a must.
Option 3 – The big bank with a big income
It’s impossible to mention the best stocks to protect your retirement income without mentioning at least one of Canada’s big bank stocks. The big banks offer juicy yields, robust growth, and reliable revenue generation.
In short, they are the perfect add-on to any portfolio.
And the big bank for investors to consider today? That would be Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX: TD). TD is the second largest of the big banks, offering banking and investing products to customers in Canada and the U.S.
TD’s U.S. expansion, now over 1,000 branches strong, has become its primary growth engine, stretching from Maine to Florida.
That U.S.-focused growth, coupled with TD’s defensive (and massive) network at home, makes it a top choice for investors looking to protect their retirement income.
Speaking of income, TD offers a quarterly dividend that offers a respectable 3.7% yield. And like the other stocks to protect your retirement income, TD has an established cadence of providing annual bumps to that income.
Invest today and protect your retirement income!
No stock, even the most defensive, is without risk. Fortunately, TD, Telus and Canadian Utilities offer investors a mix of growth, defensive appeal, and juicy yields.
This makes them ideal candidates for inclusion in any well-diversified portfolio.
