Consumer Staples – Brands for Retirement Income (and free gas)

I recently saw an advertisement at Shop Rite where if you spend a certain amount of money on Procter & Gamble, Kraft, or Unilever brands you get a free gas card. You don’t realize how many brands each of these companies own until you see all of their logos next to each other.

P&G, Kraft, and Unilever are classified as Consumer Staples stocks.  They are a favorite among retirees because they pay decent dividend income and they are thought to be some of the safer stocks out there.  Even if the economy struggles are you going to brush your teeth with Crest toothpaste or use Degree deodorant.  Some may argue that these types of stocks are overpriced nowadays, but it is interesting to see a chart showing how Consumer Staples stocks have done much better than the S&P index since 1990.