3 Ways to Yield Wealth From Dividends

Sorry to disappoint you, Fools: However much you may imagine it, dividend checks don't make a ka-ching sound when they land in your account. There's no jackpot siren or shower of rainbow confetti, either.

High-yielding stocks are more than just the sum of their distributions. No two dividends -- or dividend-paying companies -- are alike, so try to avoid any romanticized dreams of celebration.

You can get rich from dividends. It's just not as easy as you think. Then again, it's not as hard as you think, either. I've got four tips to make you a better income investor.

1. Don't chase yields
There's nothing as ego-bruising as snapping up a stock only because of its high yield. A dividend is only as secure as the company's ability to pay its declared distributions.

Income investors like to watch their companies' payout ratios, making sure that each investment is earning more than enough to cover its regular dividend. But sometimes, the bottom line can turn sour in a hurry. Companies such as Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) seemed to have attractive yields a year ago, especially as the first few whiffs of breakdowns in their fundamentals sent their share prices into retreat.

Shareholders who held on, figuring that the higher yields would save the day, learned the cruel lesson that unsustainable yields can get slashed -- or eliminated.

2. Take a hike with the hikers
Every Monday, I profile four stocks that have increased their dividends during the previous week. Typically, these increases send an upbeat message that a company is comfortable enough to part with a few more of its greenbacks.

Watch for companies that regularly raise their dividends. When I see a company like Otter Tail (Nasdaq: OTTR), which has boosted its quarterly disbursements in each of the past 33 years, or 3M (NYSE: MMM), with its 50-year streak of payout upgrades, I see all-weather performance that will likely stand the test of time.

3. Avoid the one-time dividends
There are several reasons why companies issue huge one-time distributions, but none of them impress me. Sometimes a hefty payout will leave a company saddled with debt, as Domino's (NYSE: DPZ) was after the pizza chain's $13.50-a-share dividend last year.

One-time outlays aren't always disastrous. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) obviously hasn't suffered a setback since its $3-a-share distribution four years ago. However, I'm sure that Mr. Softy would have loved those extra billions today as it ramps up its acquisition strategy.

Because there's no free lunch, these huge disbursements result in big tax bills for you, and big ex-dividend price adjustments for the stocks. Unless you're comfortable assessing what a company and its balance sheet will look like after a one-time dividend hit, it's best to stay away.

4. Add it up
The moral of this story should be familiar: Even yield-hungry investors should remember to buy companies, not dividends. Readers of our Income Investor newsletter will be the first to tell you that. Our newsletter's monthly stock recommendations can't just have attractive yields; they must have attractive prospects, too.

After all, what good is a dividend if the share price falls by more than the sum of your dividend checks? With a little Foolish savvy and a few careful choices, dividend investing can be the perfect strategy for investors who want real profits, rather than imaginary celebrations.