$75,000 in These 3 Dividend Stocks Could Pay You $3,344 a Year

Once retirees stop getting a paycheck, they quickly learn that a portfolio’s job changes. Price swings matter less than whether cash comes every quarter to cover groceries, insurance premiums, and property taxes. That makes the source of the income as important as the amount. Spreading it across businesses that earn money in different ways can make the cash flow steadier.

A $25,000 stake in each of these three high-yield names would return this much annual income. The full $75,000 investment would produce $3,343.93 a year, which tops $3,300. The money comes from three different income sources: a crude oil pipeline partnership, a regulated electric and gas utility, and a payroll services company. All figures use forward yields based on prices from October 23, 2026.

Alliant Energy

• Stock #3: Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT | LNT Price Prediction)
• Yield: 3.07%
• Shares for $25,000: 358.9
• Annual Passive Income: ~$768.02

Alliant Energy owns two regulated utilities, Interstate Power and Light in Iowa and Wisconsin Power and Light. Together they serve about 1,010,000 electric customers and 435,000 natural gas customers. Regulators set rates that let the company earn an authorized return on its rate base, so earnings grow as Alliant invests in generation, storage, and grid assets. That predictability supports a high payout to a shareholder base that buys the stock for income.

The forward dividend of $2.14 per share works out to between 62% and 64% of 2026 current EPS guidance of $3.36 to $3.46, and results are trending in the upper half of that range. Management expects “compound annual earnings growth across 2027 through 2029 to be 7% plus,” supported by five large-load agreements that point to 60% demand growth by 2031. The quarterly payout rose to $0.535 from $0.5075. The main risk is financing: Alliant still has about $500 million of equity to raise through 2029.

Paychex

• Stock #2: Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX)
• Yield: 4.03%
• Shares for $25,000: 211.8
• Annual Passive Income: ~$1,008.13

Paychex runs payroll, HR, benefits, and PEO services for about 840,000 customers and pays 1 in 11 U.S. private sector workers. It earns cash from recurring processing fees, a fast-growing PEO segment, and interest on client funds. The business needs little capital so that it can return most of that cash to shareholders. That explains why a services company with software-like economics pays a yield above 4%.

Paychex has less room to spare than the utility. The quarterly dividend of $1.19 used up about 89% of first-quarter fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS of $1.34. Fiscal 2027 guidance calls for adjusted EPS growth of 7% to 9%, and operating cash flow made $2.56 billion in fiscal 2026, compared with $1.6 billion paid out in dividends. The payout rose from $1.08 earlier in the year, and the company’s CFO pointed to a focus on “sustained dividend growth.”

Plains All American Pipeline

• Stock #1: Plains All American Pipeline (NASDAQ:PAA)
• Distribution Rate: 6.27%
• Shares for $25,000: 938.8
• Annual Passive Income: ~$1,567.78

Plains transports, stores, and markets crude oil. It closed the sale of its Canadian NGL business in mid-May, leaving it focused on crude, and it added the Cactus III Pipeline to its Permian network by buying EPIC Crude. Plains is a master limited partnership, so it passes cash from fee-based pipelines through to unitholders, which explains its ultra-high-yield distribution rate. For tax purposes, much of an MLP’s distributions are usually classified as return of capital. That lowers the investor’s cost basis, and the tax comes due when the units are sold. Units also return unrelated business taxable income (UBTI), which can create a tax bill when held in an IRA, and holders receive a K-1.

The safety case rests on cash flow and leverage. Plains expects 2026 adjusted EBITDA of $2.88 billion and free cash flow of about $1.75 billion. The NGL sale cut debt by roughly $2.9 billion, and pro forma leverage fell to 3.3x. Management targets a $0.15 per-unit increase in annual distributions. Units have climbed 71.45% over the past year, so new buyers get a lower yield than earlier holders.

Income Breakdown at a Glance

Three Income Engines, One Steady Paycheck

Together, these three positions generate $3,343.93 in annual passive income from a $75,000 investment, with a combined yield of 4.46%. Plains All American contributes $1,567.78, Paychex adds $1,008.13, and Alliant Energy provides $768.02.

The payment dates also line up well. Plains pays on November 13, Alliant on November 16, and Paychex on November 25. Because cash comes from crude volumes, regulated rate base, and payroll processing, a setback in one industry leaves the other two income streams intact. That variety makes it easier to plan monthly spending around dividend income.

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