There are a million and one ways to make a buck on Wall Street, but some methods are more reliable than others. If you're an investor looking for a way to beef up your passive income stream or you simply want big gains, buying dividend-paying stocks and holding them is a relatively easy way to make it happen.

Dividend-payers have to manage their cash more carefully than non-dividend-payers, which leads to measurable benefits for investors. During the 50 years from 1973 through 2023, stocks in the benchmark S&P 500 index that paid dividends rose by 9.17% annually on average. Annual returns from non-dividend-payers in the same index are less than half at just 4.27% on average, according to Ned Davis Research and Hartford Funds.

At the moment, shares of W.P. Carey (NYSE: WPC) , AT&T (NYSE: T) , and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) offer dividend yields of 5% or better. Here's why investors can expect them to outperform in the decade ahead.

1. W.P. Carey

W.P. Carey is a large real estate investment trust ( REIT ) that owns 1,291 properties spread throughout the U.S. and Europe. This REIT takes a hands-off approach with net leases that transfer all the variable costs of building ownership, such as maintenance and taxes, to the tenant.

Shares of W.P. Carey are down from their all-time peak because the company had to sell a lot of underperforming office buildings and slash its dividend accordingly. At recent prices, it offers a 5.7% yield that could grow significantly in the years ahead.

Now that it's out of the office building space, industrial properties, and warehouses are responsible for a combined 64% of annual rent expectations. The REIT's tenant list is highly diversified with its four largest tenants responsible for less than 10% of its portfolio.

This year, W.P. Carey expects adjusted funds from operations (FFO) to land in a range between $4.63 and $4.73 per share. This is heaps more than it needs to meet a dividend obligation currently set at $3.48 per share. With a pile of capital from office building sales available to reinvest, investors can reasonably expect this REIT's bottom line and its dividend payout to rise steadily in the decade ahead.

2. AT&T

AT&T is another dividend payer that recently cut its payout in response to the sale of a large chunk of its overall business. In 2022, the company spun off its unpredictable media assets, so these days, it's purely a telecommunications business. At recent prices, the stock offers a 5.3% dividend yield.

AT&T's telecom business is steadily growing along with America's need for both broadband and mobile internet services. The recent addition of a fixed wireless option helped second-quarter broadband sales rise 7% year over year.

AT&T hasn't raised its dividend payout since spinning off its media assets. It's still focused on reducing a debt load that was still $126.9 billion at the end of June.

AT&T could begin raising its dividend again soon. Over the past 12 months, the company generated a very healthy $20.9 billion in free cash flow and needed just $8.2 billion to meet its dividend commitment. That means there's plenty of profits available to reduce debt and maintain or raise its dividend commitment.

3. Pfizer

Pfizer is still getting hit by rapidly shrinking demand for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Its stock price has been beaten down a long way from its previous peak, but the company has continued raising its dividend year after year. At recent prices, it offers a big 5.9% dividend yield.

Second-quarter sales rose just 3% year over year. If we ignore contributions from its COVID-19 products, though, sales surged 14% year over year.

Investments made with its COVID-related windfall give Pfizer a good chance to continue growing at a healthy pace. In 2023, the Food and Drug Administration approved nine new drugs, a new record.

Big Pharma companies are made of many parts that move in different directions. Some of Pfizer's aging blockbusters are on the way down, but the company has over a dozen products that grew second-quarter sales by more than 10% year over year.

With an unprecedented slew of new drugs to market, and an experienced global salesforce ready to market them, investors can look forward to steadily rising dividend payments from this stock for at least a decade.

Before you buy stock in W.P. Carey, consider this: