Many of those thinking about their retirement like to ask if their money will see them through their retirement years and how much they might be able to pass on to their heirs. Unfortunately many people (and some financial advisors) look at investment returns through time as something that is static. They plug in some annual return assumptions and look at the results from there.

For those of us not fortunate enough to receive a large pension for life after retiring, there is a real question of whether or not many of us can retire comfortably or securely, even at age 65. I have consulted with many clients who had this simple question: Can I retire by age 65? I’ve even had a few people ask me if they can ever retire. They simply had no idea if they had enough money invested and enough future income to cover all that they wanted to do in retirement.

We’ve heard the problems again and again: Interest rates are too low, savings aren’t enough, and too many people lost too much wealth over the past five years to be able to retire before they’re 70.

Since the lows of 2009 the S&P 500 index is up nearly 120%. Before this rally there were those who had been talking about low stock market returns for years to come. With the stock market having rallied so far so quickly, the odds of lower returns going forward might even be higher now.

When looking to build a long-term portfolio of stocks that pay high dividends, investors usually come up with a mix of stocks that either have high dividend yields or high dividend growth rates. It is difficult to find good companies that have both. This means that there is often a choice to be made. All else equal, should one invest in the company that has that enticing high dividend yield, but a low dividend growth rate, or does one exude patience and invest in the company with a relatively low yield, but a high dividend growth rate? To help answer this question I looked at two companies that offer these different alternatives: AT&T (T) and Exxon (XOM).