One of the best things about participating in the stock market is that even relatively small investments can make a big impact on your retirement portfolio over long time frames. Those compounding gains will often be amplified by dividend payments, too, which an investor can choose to have automatically reinvested each quarter.

But which stocks fit in that rare category of promising both income and capital appreciation for years or decades?

It's impossible to know for sure, of course. But investors can maximize their odds by focusing on proven winners with dominant market-share positions and stellar balance sheets. Let's take a look at two great examples. Read on for some good reasons to put $5,000 to work owning shares of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and (NASDAQ: MSFT).

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Source Fool.com