Investors have never been hungrier to pick up stocks with big dividend yields. But if you want to get the safety that a diversified portfolio brings, you can't afford to have all your money in the same well-known blue chip dividend stocks. To make sure you truly have the best stocks you can find, you have to go off the beaten path to find dividend-paying companies that few people pay much attention to.

I wanted to find what I call dividend princes -- smaller companies that already pack a big wallop with their payouts. Finding them can be tough, though, because tiny companies that are still in their growth phase often don't pay dividends; they're too busy plowing any excess cash back into growing their business further. Between small-cap and large-cap stocks, though, you'll find an in-between area that many investors ignore -- yet which holds huge opportunities for those who venture there.

Source: Motley Fool

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