Wages arrive on an employer’s schedule. Dividends arrive on a corporate board’s schedule and keep arriving whether markets are open or closed. That distinction defines income investing: cash flow that shows up in your brokerage account without negotiating a raise, selling an asset, or clocking in.
We screened our 24/7 Wall St. dividend equity research database and found a collection of companies that, combined, can generate over $7,000 a year in passive annual income if you invest $16,666 in each stock at the time of this writing.
Stock #6: Realty Income
- Yield: 5.10%
- Shares for $16,666: 261.36
- Annual Passive Income: $850
Realty Income (NYSE:O | O Price Prediction) is a net-lease REIT trading at $63.77 with a $0.271 monthly payout that annualizes to $3.252 per share. Its portfolio of retail, industrial, and gaming properties runs at 98.9% occupancy, and REIT rules require it to distribute 90% of taxable income.
The company has raised its dividend for 114 consecutive quarters and paid 670 consecutive monthly dividends. Management raised 2026 investment guidance to $9.5 billion and formed a joint venture with Apollo, signaling continued deployment.
Stock #5: Enterprise Products Partners
- Yield: 5.94%
- Shares for $16,666: 441.74
- Annual Passive Income: $989
Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) is a Houston-based midstream MLP with a distribution just raised to $0.56 per quarter, or $2.24 annualized. As an MLP, EPD passes cash through to unitholders without entity-level tax, structurally supporting a higher payout than a C-corp peer.
The business runs NGL, crude oil, natural gas, and petrochemical pipelines under fee-based contracts, insulating cash flow from commodity swings. Q1 2026 adjusted EBITDA rose 10% to $2.69 billion, with $5.3 billion in growth projects under construction and a $5 billion buyback authorized. Insiders hold 32.98% of units, unusually high alignment for a company this size.
Stock #4: Altria
- Yield: 6.04%
- Shares for $16,666: 237.55
- Annual Passive Income: $1,007
Altria (NYSE:MO) is the Marlboro-maker and a Dividend King, having lifted its quarterly payout to $1.06 in Q4 2025 from $1.02. Trailing 12-month dividends total $4.24 per share. Mature tobacco cash flows and declining reinvestment needs let management funnel earnings straight back to shareholders.
The stock returned 28.93% over the past year, and $1.8 billion in Q1 2026 dividends paired with a $2 billion buyback reflects Altria’s classic capital-return template.
Stock #3: Verizon Communications
- Yield: 6.66%
- Shares for $16,666: 392.43
- Annual Passive Income: $1,111
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) pays $0.7075 quarterly, or $2.83 annualized. The company closed its Frontier Communications acquisition on January 20, 2026, pushing fiber broadband connections up 41.9% year over year to roughly 10.8 million.
Management raised 2026 guidance to adjusted EPS of $4.95 to $4.99 and free cash flow above $21.5 billion, with more than $3 billion earmarked for buybacks. Nineteen straight years of dividend increases make Verizon a rare high-yield telecom with an Aristocrat-caliber history (worth pairing with our Never Touch the Principal research).
Stock #2: Main Street Capital
- Yield: 8.10%
- Shares for $16,666: 313.93
- Annual Passive Income: $1,350
Main Street Capital (NYSE:MAIN) is an internally managed BDC focused on lower middle-market lending and equity. It pays a $0.265 monthly regular dividend plus a $0.30 quarterly supplemental, driving the trailing 12-month total to $4.30 per share. BDCs distribute roughly 90% of taxable income to keep their tax status.
The June 2026 supplemental marked the 19th consecutive quarterly special payment. NAV per share edged up to $33.46, non-accruals sit at just 1.2% at fair value, and the internally managed structure keeps operating costs below externally managed BDC peers.
Stock #1: Ares Capital
- Yield: 10.22%
- Shares for $16,666: 887.00
- Annual Passive Income: $1,703
Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) is the largest publicly traded BDC. Its $0.48 quarterly dividend annualizes to $1.92, and the payout has held steady for eight consecutive quarters. The portfolio is 73% first-lien senior secured with a weighted-average debt yield of 10.3%, matching the payout to underlying loan economics.
Non-accruals stand at 2.1% at amortized cost, well inside historical norms for middle-market credit.
The Combined Income Picture
Combined, these six positions generate $7,010 in annual passive income on a $100,000 investment, a blended yield of 7.01%. Ares Capital contributes $1,703, Main Street Capital adds $1,350, Verizon delivers $1,111, Altria kicks in $1,007, Enterprise Products Partners pays $989, and Realty Income rounds out the portfolio with $850.
| Ticker | Annual Income | Share of Total |
|---|---|---|
| ARCC | $1,703 | 24.3% |
| MAIN | $1,350 | 19.3% |
| VZ | $1,111 | 15.9% |
| MO | $1,007 | 14.4% |
| EPD | $989 | 14.1% |
| O | $850 | 12.1% |
Reinvesting these payments accelerates the math: at a 7% blended yield, dividends alone rebuild roughly one share of ARCC every couple of months without new capital. That is the quiet compounding engine income investors are buying, running on a schedule no employer controls.
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