Since the lows of 2009 the S&P 500 index is up nearly 120%. Before this rally there were those who had been talking about low stock market returns for years to come. With the stock market having rallied so far so quickly, the odds of lower returns going forward might even be higher now.

When looking to build a long-term portfolio of stocks that pay high dividends, investors usually come up with a mix of stocks that either have high dividend yields or high dividend growth rates. It is difficult to find good companies that have both. This means that there is often a choice to be made. All else equal, should one invest in the company that has that enticing high dividend yield, but a low dividend growth rate, or does one exude patience and invest in the company with a relatively low yield, but a high dividend growth rate? To help answer this question I looked at two companies that offer these different alternatives: AT&T (T) and Exxon (XOM).

Many people in their 40s are finally at this point beginning to save a decent amount of money every paycheck. This by itself can be a big accomplishment for many people. But a lot of those same people have yet to even begin thinking about a retirement strategy.

About every quarter I update my weights for my dividend paying stocks in my retirement portfolio. Let me first summarize the idea behind my weighting scheme. I do not normally believe in weighting by market capitalization, nor do I generally believe in equally weighting stocks. There are better ways to figure out how to distribute the money in your portfolios. I suggest a weighting mechanism for dividend paying stocks that rewards a company with a higher weight as it makes good decisions that are in the interests of shareholders.

With a new year upon us and with income taxes, capital gains taxes, and dividend taxes going way up for those making over $400,000 a year ($450,000 for joint filers), and payroll taxes going up for everybody else, it’s time once again to ask how much the typical couple might need to retire.