There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that has the potential to make investors wealthy over time, but there are few approaches that have a better track record of success than investing in dividend stocks.

Companies that pay dividends are often successful, profitable businesses -- year in, year out -- which have generally proven over time that they can withstand market cycles and recessions. They also have a bright-line history of outperforming their peers that don't pay a dividend.

The asset managers at Hartford Financial Services looked at the performance of the benchmark S&P 500 going all the way back to 1930 and found there was not a single decade in which dividend stocks in the index didn't generate positive returns, even when the broader market was losing money for investors.

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Source Fool.com