Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment is a floor, not a raise. The 2026 Social Security COLA is 2.8%, which means retirees leaning on that check for real spending power need income streams that clear that bar without breaking a sweat. The three names below all pay yields that top 2.8%, and each one carries a dividend record long enough to matter. Safety, not yield chasing, is what qualifies them here.
Realty Income (NYSE: O)
Realty Income (NYSE:O | O Price Prediction) is the net lease REIT that has branded itself “The Monthly Dividend Company,” and the branding is earned. The current yield sits at 5.12%, and shareholders collect it in twelve installments rather than four. The most recent monthly declaration was $0.271, with an annualized forward estimate of $3.252.
On safety, the coverage math works. Realty Income’s 2026 AFFO guidance sits at $4.41 to $4.44, implying 3.0% to 3.7% growth, against an annualized dividend of $3.246. That leaves clear headroom on the funds available to pay the distribution. Portfolio occupancy stands at 98.9% with rent recapture of 103.4%, and Q1 2026 AFFO per share of $1.13 rose 6.6% year over year. Balance sheet leverage improved to Net Debt to Annualized Pro Forma Adjusted EBITDAre of 5.2x from 5.4x. The dividend track record is the headline: 670 consecutive monthly dividends declared and 114 consecutive quarterly increases, confirmed by an unbroken monthly dividend history going back to at least 1999, spanning 27 years.
The bull case for an income investor is simple: a monthly check that has been raised, in small increments, essentially every quarter, backed by a diversified global net lease portfolio and an $9.5 billion 2026 investment volume guide. Shares are up 16.81% year to date, so total return is showing up alongside the payout.
The caveat: interest expense and impairments remain a live headwind. Q1 2026 carried $129.3 million in impairment provisions and interest coverage of only 1.42x. That is the price of running a leveraged real estate model in a higher-rate world.
Verizon (NYSE: VZ)
Verizon (NYSE:VZ) is the ultra-high-yield name in this trio. The current yield reads 6.66%, comfortably above the 6% threshold and roughly triple the COLA benchmark. The quarterly dividend was raised to $0.7075 from $0.69, with an annualized forward estimate of $2.83.
Safety here is about cash generation, not accounting earnings. 2026 adjusted EPS guidance sits at $4.95 to $4.99, up 5% to 6%, and 2026 free cash flow guidance is $21.5 billion or better, up roughly 7% year over year. That FCF envelope easily covers the dividend commitment plus the $2.5 billion in Q1 2026 buybacks, on pace for $3 billion or more this year. On the track record, the dividend has been paid quarterly without interruption for 27+ years, with the current $0.7075 quarterly rate up from $0.665 in Q3 2024.
The bull case is a turnaround with proof points. Under CEO Dan Schulman, Verizon posted its first positive Q1 postpaid phone net adds since 2013, and the Frontier acquisition expanded the fiber footprint past 30 million homes. Income investors get a real yield on a business that finally shows subscriber traction. If you are building a paycheck-style portfolio around names like this, our From $250K to $1,500 a Month research walks through how high-yield telecom, REIT, and energy income can be layered on top of Social Security.
The caveat is the balance sheet. Total debt sits at $172.5 billion with net unsecured debt leverage at 2.6x after the Frontier deal. Add churn ticking up to 0.97% and ARPA slipping 1.9% year over year, and integration risk is real. The yield gets paid, but debt servicing capacity is what income holders should keep watching.
Chevron (NYSE: CVX)
Chevron (NYSE:CVX) rounds out the group with the lowest headline yield of the three but arguably the sturdiest income structure. The current yield reads 3.97%, still comfortably ahead of the 2.8% COLA. The quarterly dividend was raised 4% to $1.78 per share, verified in the payment schedule showing $1.78 quarterly in 2026 versus $1.71 in 2025 and $1.63 in 2024.
On safety, the balance sheet does the heavy lifting. Debt to equity of 0.25, net debt to EBITDA of 1.08, and interest coverage of 13.7x is fortress-level for an integrated oil major. Cash generation backs the payout: FY 2025 operating cash flow was a record $33.9 billion with free cash flow of $16.6 billion, and Chevron returned $27.1 billion to shareholders in 2025, including $12.1 billion in buybacks. Q1 2026 buybacks of $2.5 billion marked the 16th consecutive quarter of returning $5 billion or more annually. On the track record, this is the 39th consecutive annual dividend increase, and the dividend history data confirms an uninterrupted quarterly payment pattern with no year-over-year decreases across the entire 27-year dataset.
The bull case: a dividend grower with a real production tailwind. Q1 2026 production hit a record 3,858 MBOED, up 15% year over year, on the back of Hess integration and Permian scale, with structural cost cuts targeting $3 to $4 billion by end of 2026. Shares are up 21.81% year to date, so the dividend is being paid on rising equity value, not falling.
The caveat is what it always is with an oil major: commodity prices set the tone. Q1 2026 net income fell 37% year over year, and free cash flow ran negative at -$1.55 billion on working capital timing. The FCF profile easily supports the dividend across a cycle, but a single quarter can look ugly when crude prices roll over.
The Bottom Line
These three names give income investors three different ways to clear the 2.8% COLA hurdle. Realty Income delivers the monthly cadence and the longest unbroken payment record. Verizon delivers the fattest yield and a real FCF cushion behind it. Chevron delivers the strongest balance sheet and the most robust dividend growth streak of the group. Different engines, same job: paying a check that grows faster than the government’s inflation adjustment.
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