When the going gets rough on Wall Street, smart investors turn to dividend stocks. Companies that pay a regular dividend are usually profitable on a recurring basis and have previously navigated their way through one or more downturns.

What's more, dividend stocks have crushed non-payers in the return column over long periods. A 2013 report from J.P. Morgan Asset Management, a division of JPMorgan Chase, showed that companies initiating and increasing their payouts averaged a 9.5% annual return between 1972 and 2012. That compared to a meager 1.6% annualized return over the same four-decade period for companies that didn't pay a dividend.

But not all income stocks are created equally. When it comes to the safety of their payouts and the size of their distributions, these are five of the safest high-yield dividend stocks to buy for 2023.

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Source Fool.com