The check-a-month strategy involves buying a group of high-yielding, quarterly-dividend-paying stocks with dividend payment dates spread across the quarter so that the client receives a dividend check(s) each month.

As expected, the Fed cut rates by 25 basis points yesterday, but the 10-year US Treasury Yield Index (TNX) also returned to a buy signal and a positive trend on its default chart, possibly signaling the beginning of an uptrend in long-term yields, which would be detrimental to core US bonds.  That’s why we thought today would be an opportune time to update the check-a-month strategy which can be a useful tool for supplementing portfolio yield via high dividend equities.

The check-a-month strategy involves buying a group of high-yielding, quarterly-dividend-paying stocks with dividend payment dates spread across the quarter so that the client receives a dividend check(s) each month.

When building a check-a-month portfolio, it is essential to select not only high-yielding stocks but also stocks with a healthy technical picture to better stack the odds of future outperformance in your favor. After all, your client won't be impressed with their 3% yield if the market value of their portfolio drops by 15%. Looking only at dividend yield, we found that there are 125 stocks in the S&P 500 with a dividend yield of 3% or higher. However, when we narrow our search using a technical overlay, we are left with 28 stocks. A list of all the criteria we inputted in the Security Screener tool is below:

S&P 500 Universe

Price = >$10

Trend = Positive

Technical Attributes = 3+ 

Dividend Yield > 3%

You will find all 28 names in the table below categorized into three groups based on their usual dividend payment schedule.

Early Quarter Dividend Payout (January, April, July, October)

Mid-Quarter Dividend Payout (February, May, August, November)

Late Quarter Dividend Payout (March, June, September, December)