The recent turbulence in the market has provided income investors first hand experience in managing their income portfolio in a declining market. For some, this may be their first significant and prolonged downturn. Here are some things that will help you succeed and thrive during this bear market:

I view stocks that increase their dividends in this tough environment as defensive, recession proof corporations, who have survived many downturns, recessions and credit crisis. They view the current financial hiccup as only temporary in nature, which in turn shows the confidence in their business models.
The companies that increased their dividend payments to stockholders include:

I am not a stock trader; I am a dividend and value based long-term buy-and-hold investor. When I add a stock to my dividend portfolio, it is my intention to hold the stock forever. However, I have one hard and fast rule about selling stocks:

SYSCO Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the marketing and distribution of a range of food and related products primarily for food-service industry in the United States and Canada. Linked here is detailed analysis and commentary.

Each day I hear disgruntled comments due to losses and see many people looking for an out. "The fact is people are scared and the only thing they're doing is selling," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. As a dividend and value investor, these are the times we live for - value priced stocks and golden dividends.

It is always interesting to see what the crude oil price does to the share prices of several stocks of companies that have oil as a large expenditure. Particularly I like to pay attention to price fluctuations in the shares of really strong companies that have paid ever- increasing dividends over the years.

A roundup of last week's stock related blog posts.

At some point in the future will we look back on our actions today and refer to them as our greatest missed opportunity? By most measures, many blue-chip stocks are trading at a historical discount. Are you going to buy now or pay full-price or a premium price later? Unlike the perpetual going-out-of-business sale at the local furniture store, this sale will end suddenly and without warning.

Ever since the broad market indexes entered into bear market territory, I have been checking the dividend champions list for bargains. I came up with a list, using the follwoing screen criteria: