The Bull Case for Dividend Growth

August 25, 2026
Yahoo! Finance TV

Author and Bahnsen Group CIO David Bahnsen discusses his book “Profit from the Profit” and explains why dividend growth can build resilient long-term wealth beyond simply owning the S&P 500. He argues dividend growth provides consistent, rising cashflow that helps investors avoid selling at inopportune times, compounds over time, and tends to come from higher-quality companies committed to protecting and growing payouts. Bahnsen says dividend growth can outpace inflation when dividends grow 6–9% versus inflation at 2–4%, and rejects the idea that dividend investing is “old, slow, and boring,” citing long-term compounding from companies like McDonald’s. He outlines screening priorities (durable dividend growth and adequate yield), warning signs of shaky dividends (poor management decisions, rising debt, reckless M&A, declining free cash flow, slowing dividend growth), and shares examples he likes: McDonald’s, Verizon, and PepsiCo.