Get your dividends

Some investors actually like to have their cake and eat it too! Dividend paying stocks offer long-term growth potential and near-term income in the form of dividends. Popular high dividend stocks include many blue chip names including AT&T, Verizon, Bristol Myers Squibb and Wal-Mart.

But what if you're risk averse and would rather have more diversification than a handful of stocks. Well, there's an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for you. Something I've relied on over the years is iShares Select Dividend ETF (ticker DVY). Like other ETFs, the shares trade like a single stock and one can buy and sell at anytime.

DVY is composed of approximately 100 (92 at last count) high dividend yielding stocks from the S&P 500. Recently this produced a dividend of just about 3% -- not bad in this low interest world. Take a look.