There is a lot of talk out there about how many of us won’t be able to retire until age 70 or 75. It’s a real downer, so I thought I would take this conversation in a different direction: What do you need in order to retire before age 60?

It is a question on the minds of so many people that are planning for retirement: Will I run out of money? We can take into account all of the income a person expects in retirement as well as their assets and spending needs and give a good idea of how long their funds will last. However, this is a static view of things, and as we all know, investment returns and inflation have been anything but static.

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: Wal-Mart (WMT) and Merck (MRK)

There are many variables that can have a large impact on a person’s retirement plan. Today I want to take a look at two competing ideas and problems for most of us when it comes to securing our own retirement. I’m going to look at how big of an impact the following two variables have on a retirement plan: how much is saved each year vs. total returns on investments.

When I look for dividend paying stocks for the long run, a few of the characteristics I like to see are a reasonable dividend yield of at least 2.5%, a history of consistent dividend growth, and earnings that do not plummet every time there is an economic downturn. Procter & Gamble (PG) fits this bill perfectly.