Investing for the long term requires a different mindset than the short-term speculating one sees among traders. W.P. Carey (NYSE: WPC) offers up a great combination of benefits that matches well with that long-term investing criteria.

Let's look at the criteria and see why dividend investors looking for a real estate investment trust (REIT) to add during the current bear market should consider W.P. Carey stock.

Triple net lease properties are generally single-tenant assets that require the tenant to pay most of the operating costs of the property (including upkeep, insurance, and taxes). The REIT basically collects rent and the tenant handles the rest. Any single property can be high risk given that there's just one tenant, but when a company spreads the risk across a large enough portfolio, this approach becomes a fairly low-risk endeavor. W.P. Carey has over 1,300 properties in its portfolio.

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Source Fool.com