本文來自《終極股息投資攻略》第4章，在原文基礎上有些調整，以便適合朗讀學習。
Dividend rates are not stable the way a bond's fixed interest payment is. Given sufficient time, dividends either grow or decline, much in the manner of the corporations that pay them. I can cite companies paying the same dividend rate year after boring year; the utility industry provides abundant examples.
Midwestern electric utility Ameren has paid the same $0.635 a share every quarter for almost a decade now; New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group went 12 years between dividend increases, while Southwest Gas went just shy of 13 years. Long periods of flat payments end in either increases, cuts, or outright halts.Far more frequently than cuts, we find stocks whose dividends rise steadily over time。If not every year and at the same growth rate, then at least in a fashion that reflects the financial progress of the business.
