This is where the Dividend Aristocrats list comes in handy. Think about the tall order that is specified by this list. These are 51 companies that not just maintained their dividend but increased their respective payouts every year dating back to at least 1986 (assuming 2011 was the last year of record for the 2012 list). These companies have honored their dividend policy through the Gulf War, the October 1987 Stockmarket Crash, the Dot-com bubble, September 11th and concomitant recession, and the greatest test since the Great Depression - the 2008/09 Financial Crisis. I would say this is a pretty selective group of companies that takes their dividend policies very seriously.

The way I like to use this list is in building a diversified portfolio. For example, if I want to equal weight the S&P500 I would pick a few stocks to represent each sector. The S&P is weighted as follows (borrowed from S&P website*):