Got $500 in 2025? These 3 Blue-Chip Dividend Stocks Are Your Forever Assets
Wall Street's dividend darlings just got a crypto-era makeover.
Forget chasing memecoins—these cash-printing machines compound wealth while you sleep. We're talking about the OG 'proof-of-stake' assets—except they actually pay real dividends, not hypothetical APY.
The $500 Gateway Drug
Five hundred bucks won't buy you a Bitcoin ETF slice, but it unlocks these institutional-grade tickers. Each one's survived four market cycles, two recessions, and one Elon Musk tweetstorm.
Why Dividends Beat 'Staking'
Unlike crypto's synthetic yields, these payouts come from actual revenue—not token inflation. Quarterly checks arrive rain or shine, even when the blockchain stops finalizing.
Warning: Boring Works
Zero flashy DAO votes or governance tokens here. Just boardrooms quietly raising payouts for 20+ years—the ultimate 'WAGMI' strategy for normies.
(Bonus jab: These stocks won't 100x by Tuesday, but your grandkids might actually inherit something.)
Image source: Getty Images.
1. AbbVie
Many have scrutinized the drug industry, often for good reasons. However, medicine remains a Core pillar of the broader healthcare sector, and that probably won't change anytime soon, if ever.(ABBV 1.43%) is one of the world's prominent biopharmaceutical companies. It has a robust portfolio of drugs used to treat over 75 conditions, with core focuses in immunology, neuroscience, oncology, aesthetics, and eye care.
Buying and holding a drug company means it must continually innovate to stay on top and be worth the investment. AbbVie's former mega-blockbuster product, Humira, was among the world's top-selling drugs for years until its patent expired. AbbVie's newer blockbusters, Rinvoq and Skyrizi, have replaced Humira, a testament to AbbVie's ability to innovate and develop new winning products so as to keep it in growth mode.
Additionally, AbbVie is a Dividend King, having raised its dividend for 53 consecutive years (almost 40 of those years were while AbbVie was part of). A growing dividend requires sustained business growth. AbbVie's dividend accomplishments have translated into both passive income and strong total investment returns. Analysts believe that AbbVie will grow earnings at a double-digit annualized rate over the long term, so its future continues to look bright.
2. Bristol Myers Squibb
Next up is(BMY -1.37%), a peer of AbbVie, and another global biopharmaceutical company worth investing in and holding on to. Bristol Myers Squibb's roots go back to the early 1800s, evolving through generations of drug development and mergers over time. Today, the company specializes in developing treatments in oncology, cardiovascular, immunology, neuroscience, and hematology (blood disorders).
Similar to AbbVie with Humira, Bristol Myers Squibb is facing the dreaded patent cliff, where top drugs age out and lose patent protection. Over the past half-decade or so, Bristol Myers Squibb has spent somewhere in the vicinity of $100 billion on acquisitions, preparing for multiple top-selling drugs to lose sales once their patents expire.
Analysts forecast low-single-digit earnings growth for Bristol Myers Squibb over the short to medium term, but growth could accelerate as the company's pipeline continues to mature. Until then, investors can still get a SAFE and growing dividend. The stock yields 5.1% at its current price, and management has increased it for 18 years and counting.
3. Danaher
Companies like AbbVie and Bristol Myers Squibb don't create life-saving drugs out of thin air. They rely on life science companies for products and services that facilitate drug discovery and other innovations.(DHR 1.89%) is a global leader in this market. The company operates over a dozen subsidiaries that span three business segments: biotechnology, diagnostics, and life sciences. Over 80% of Danaher's revenue is recurring sales.
You might view Danaher as a master operator; it essentially manages several subsidiaries. The industry's diverse and fragmented nature creates opportunities for acquisitions. Danaher has acquired, spun off, and sold many businesses over the years. Its unifying factor is a companywide operating and continuous improvement model it calls the Danaher Business System, or DBS. This system has helped the company increase its profit margins and cash FLOW over time, and the stock has outperformed the broader market over the long term.
Danaher began aggressively raising its dividend just over a decade ago and has now increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. The stock yields only 0.6%, but this is more about its future dividend growth potential. Analysts estimate Danaher will grow earnings by 9% to 10% annually over the coming years, and the dividend is still just 16% of 2025 earnings estimates. That sets investors up for solid capital gains and a dividend that should continue to rise for the foreseeable future.
