Imagine you had invested $1,000 in the S 500-tracking SPDR S 500 ETF Trust when it launched in January 1993. As of Aug. 21, 2023, if you had spent your dividends along the way, your investment would be worth around $9,935. If, on the other hand, you had reinvested those dividends, your account value would be worth around $17,440. Those seemingly small dividend payments, reinvested and compounded over time, clearly add up.

Yet even that outstanding boost in long-term performance is based on the dividends from owning the overall index as a whole. That includes companies that don't even pay a dividend. Just think about the potential if you're able to find the top dividend payers within the S 500. Consider just how much you could end up with if you instead focused on the companies in that index that offer both solid yields and the potential to increase those payments over time.

While it's impossible to know for certain what the future will bring when it comes to investing, these four members of the S 500 just may be among those top dividend payers.

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Source Fool.com