Many investors rely on stocks that offer dividend payments to supplement their retirement income. But how do you know that the company you’re looking at will continue to pay out steady dividends?

One of the best ways is to look at the company’s history of making dividend payments. Then you can see if it pays dividends sporadically or if it pays them regularly, every quarter.

Finding a company’s payout history is easy. Simply go to finance.yahoo.com and enter the company’s ticker symbol at the top. Once the company is pulled up, look to the menu on the left and click on "Historical Prices." You’ll see an option that says "Dividends Only." Choose that option and then hit "Get Prices."

What you’re looking for is a company that has paid at least 12 straight quarters of steady or increasing dividends. When you find that, you can be pretty sure you’ll get the dividends you are looking for.

[Ed. Note: It's not difficult to make smart choices when it comes to your investments. Charles Delvalle is a market analyst for Investor's Daily Edge, a free online resource that explains what the financial news means to you - and how you should act today to make the most money with the least risk.]

Similar Articles:

• Financial Word of the Week: Dividends - It’s nice to own stocks, sure. But do those companies pay you dividends for owning them? A dividend …
• The Real Reason Behind Share Buybacks - Companies know investors love getting cash. And there’s no quicker way to put money into inves…
• Safe Income Investing in 6 Easy Steps - Six easy-to-follow rules are the only thing that stands between you and hitting the income jackpot. …
• Dear ETR: "The rental and the sales markets are providing a big challenge to our fiscal serenity." - "My ex-wife and I co-own a house just north of Tampa, FL. We purchased it 2 years ago for $260K…
• Shelter From the Storm - When the clock-radio woke me up the other morning, the first thing I heard was the results of a surv…
• Dear ETR: How Do Bailouts Affect Stock Prices? - “In his article entitled ‘Financial Word of the Week: Bailout,’ Charles Delvalle said that if a pers…
• Fill Up Your Portfolio With This Profitable Company - When it comes to a measuring a company’s health, little can compare with overall profits. The more p…