That brings me to Southern Company (NYSE: SO). The Atlanta-based electricity and natural gas provider is a blue chip stock that has boosted its dividend every year for 19 years in a row. The company has sustained or raised the dividend every year since 1948. When Southern Company started paying its dividend, Harry Truman was still the president. It was the year Babe Ruth passed away and the 33 1/3 RPM record was introduced. Remember those? I still have mine from high school. That's a heck of a track record (Southern Company's dividend history - not my keeping my AC/DC albums from when I was a teenager). Management also stated that it has ample liquidity to protect the dividend, indicating it is not particularly interested in ending the 72-year streak. Add all that history to the fact that in 2020, Southern Company is forecast to produce $3.25 billion in free cash flow after years of reporting negative numbers. The payout ratio will still be a little too high. The company will likely pay out about $2.68 billion in dividends. So if it generates the $3.25 billion in free cash flow that Wall Street predicts, it will cover the dividend, though it won't have a wide margin for error. Southern Company will likely pay shareholders $2.56 per share this year for a 5% yield on the current price. Like I said above, SafetyNet Pro grades utilities harshly. Though Southern Company's dividend safety rating isn't the best, it's actually the highest-rated utility covered by the system. I suspect management will do everything in its power to make sure 2020 is year 73 without a dividend cut. Dividend Safety Rating: C If you have a stock whose dividend safety you'd like me to analyze, leave the ticker symbol in the comments section. You can also check to see if I wrote about your favorite stock recently. Enter the name of the company (it works better than the ticker symbol) in the search box at the top right part of the Wealthy Retirement homepage. Good investing, Marc | 
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