When it comes to technology companies, few did better for investors in the 90s than Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC). It was truly an amazing run for these two tech giants as Microsoft returned an incredible 9,000% during this decade while Intel returned 3,300%. Those days are long gone for these two now-mature companies. Their stock prices have languished for over ten years now. But this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look at them as a solid investment opportunity. To the contrary, both of these companies now fit nicely into a dividend growth portfolio.

One of the biggest variables that confront people when planning retirement is their life expectancy. Some folks like to use the life expectancy of their age group or the life expectancy numbers that exist for a person born today. But this can be very misleading and can result in retirees running out of money in retirement.

The power of growing dividends over time continues to be underestimated by many investors. Many are concerned with another decade of slow growth and low to negative equity returns. However, one way to prepare for another decade of slow economic growth is to invest in dividend paying stocks that have shown they can weather tough economic times and even increase their dividends while it happens.

One of my favorite dividend growth stocks has been Coca-Cola (KO). I have been recommending them for the last three years as a solid edition to retirement portfolios. Coke has had an incredible run over the past year with its stock price up 23%. Over the past two years it is up 40%.

It’s always an interesting experiment to ask people how much money (in today’s dollars) they think they will need to retire comfortably. I’ve found that a lot of folks like to throw out the nice, round figure of $1 million. It’s a reasonable guess, but usually it’s just that: a guess. I wanted to dig deeper and figure out just what it takes to retire comfortably at age 65.