The last few months, and even the last few weeks, has been packed with all kinds of stock market volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Index has been jumping above and below the key 10,000 level on what seems like a weekly basis. Overall, the trend of late has been downward, but powerful short-term rallies have been present as well. What should you do? As an individual investor I think it is unwise to try to time the market right now. Many participants have been burned when trying to time the market. I think a much wiser solution is to try to combat the stock market volatility with consistent dividend paying stocks.

As I have said before, you must always remember that not all dividends are created equally. Some stocks have an “attractive” dividend yield simply because they have lost so much market value in recent trading. These aren’t typically the stocks that you should be looking for when trying to find a safe haven. On the other hand, some stocks have a solid dividend, typically in the range of 3%-5%, and are also consistently growing that dividend. Often you’ll find that these are companies that have a great deal of cash on the balance sheet, and are diversified nicely in their business sectors.

The simple fact of knowing that you can receive a much higher rate of return from these dividend yields than you can from any bank money market or certificate of deposit is very encouraging. Additionally, these stocks that have a history of hiking their dividend payout in all economic environment’s are much more likely to hold up than a speculative stock.

Use the current stock market volatility to learn an important lesson in the power of consistent dividend paying stocks. These are the stocks that will help you get through the tough market and build up a nice savings in the long run.