Wall Street seems to think that dividends don't matter anymore. That might be true for company execs getting fat bonus checks, but for the rest of us - dividends are what drive your portfolio's success.

Right now the stocks that make up the S&P 500 are paying a meager and miserly average dividend yield of 1.83 percent. And guess what? That's pretty generous compared to the wider universe of stocks that make up the rest of the overall stock market in the US.

Standard & Poors - the guys behind the creation and management of the S&P 500 index - just released a survey of some 7,000 companies that trade publicly in the US, concerning their dividends. The results aren't good news - unless you're in the executive suites of those same companies.

Only 2.73 percent of those 7,000 companies - 191 in all - raised dividends for the last quarter. Meanwhile, the guys running the companies managed pretty well without the dividends from their own stock.

CEOs Who Look After Themselves, Not Their Investors

Based on filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, www.sec.gov) the average pay package for S&P 500 CEOs is running at 10.9 million dollars.

Now, we know that with the dollar not worth as many euros these days, perhaps they do need to make a bit more. And according to a recent study released by Equilar (www.equilar.com) which focuses on pay and benefit information - that average compensation package is down by an average of 6.8 percent, the first year that's happened since 2002.

But before you begin to grin about this small bit of misfortune for the executive set - also note that base pay rates are still rising by an average of 5.7 percent. That's because while bonuses are down - helping to drive down overall compensation growth rates - companies are using backdoor means of keeping management well compensated.

First with actual stock. Compensation with stock grants is actually running higher this year by an average of 1.4 percent. And then there's options. Stock option grants to management are increasing right now at an average rate of 3.6 percent.

So, thicker regular pay envelopes, along with more stock and options and it kind of makes you wonder - as investors - where's our cut? And for you and me, that means: Where are our dividends? But that doesn't seem to be the focus of the guys running the 500 biggest companies.

For not only are the dividends down for the vast majority of the S&P 500 companies - but they're down more than 16.9 percent over the past 12 months. And it's not just a one-year problem, as the average dividend for the S&P 500 is down for the past three years by 0.3 percent. Not as big as the past 12 months - but it's down and that's what counts.

No wonder folks that have been depending on S&P stocks to generate decent retirement income - let alone grow their portfolios - aren't making it.

And they keep not making it. For the past 10 years, those same stocks in the S&P are down more than 16 percent and even with their anemic dividends are still negative for all of those years.

That's not going to work for you.

Instead, look at the stocks, minibonds and funds that I continue to recommend right here inside my Stocks That Pay You website.  This is where you find the stocks that put investors first - those I've always written about and recommended for years and years in my publications, dating from my past tenure at Personal Finance newsletter right up to my current writings.

And if you were to run down that list, you'd find that every stock except one not only paid a decent dividend - but actually continues to raise dividends over and over again, year in and year out.

And right now, looking down my favorite list of stocks that pay you to own them, I just ran a calculation of the average current dividend rate which as of today is running a tick shy of 7 percent.

That's more than 3.8 times the average yield for the 500 stocks that make up the S&P.

Now, how about some examples?

Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds That Pay You

Sure, let's start with the base of bonds. Yep, bonds - not just from the US, but around the globe - giving us world-class high yields and diversification away from the US dollar. That begins with an old favorite - AllianceBernstein Global High Income (NYSE: AWF).

This fund has an eclectic and ongoing mix of Asian, Latin American and European bonds of governments and agencies, and year after year it keeps performing. And by performing I don't just mean the dividends - which continue to expand at a 3- year average of over 6.7 percent and currently pay a yield of over 8.6 percent - but also the price gains.

The total return for this fund during the past 12 months is  over 75 percent. And if you think that it's over, don't fret - it's not. The fund still trades at a discount to what the actual bond portfolio is worth by over 5 percent.

Next, let's look at one of my favorite individual mini-bonds from my favorite air transporter: American and its parent, AMR Corporation.

The company came out this week with its latest quarterly, which showed a slowing of losses, reduced costs and more importantly a major series of capital infusions ranging from equity to general and specific project and debt financing.

This continues to bring more and more credibility to the balance sheets of the company and proves out what I've been writing about this company for years now: It has the ability and the wherewithal to pay its investors.

And while there is value in the common stock, the real value is in the minibonds of the company trading on the NYSE under the symbol of AAR. This minibond has a stated dividend rate of 7.875 percent and continues to move up in price. Currently trading around 18 dollars, this means a yield right now of over 11.2 percent paid quarter after quarter.

Now, I'll begin to move away from bonds - a little bit - with my next example that's actually part common stock and part bond: an income deposit security (IDS) that I've followed and recommended right from the IPO through today. From the get go in December of 2004 through today, Otelco (NSDQ: OTT) has proved my case for it by turning in a total return in excess of 46 percent - while the S&P lost more than 10 percent.

Otelco is one of my favorite rural communications companies. From its base in low-cost Oneonta, Alabama, management knows what the company can do and do well and it doesn't deviate. Its growth comes from controlling costs and bolstering revenues from existing customers as well as very specific acquisitions in markets that work just like their home market.

The results keep coming, and shareholders get their cut with a dividend rate running at 12.8 percent.

Then there's another utility - one of the very few I recommend that's actually a component of the S&P 500. Southern Company (NYSE: SO) might seem tame with its dividend rate running at 5.2 percent - but that dividend has continually risen over the past five years by an annual average of over 4 percent, year after year.

This is the steadiest of steady companies in the US that keeps generating power and paying its stockholders.

No wonder then, that during the same past ten years in which the S&P 500 lost ground, Southern generated gains of over 234.9 percent. And that's not just better than the broad S&P 500 - but also nearly 5 times better than Southern's peers in the power utilities market.

Last up is a favored resource company that doesn't need to rely on stratospheric oil and gas prices to make money. Linn Energy (NSDQ: LINE) was one of my first replacements for the politics- and tax-challenged Canadian Trusts. Based right here in the US down in Houston, Linn - run by Mike Linn along with his COO, Mark Ellis and his very capable CFO Kolja Kockov - is set up to produce petrol at far below market prices.

And with low cost fields that keep revenues pumping with triple-digit gains - and a strategy of paying out a steady cut for shareholders - it's no wonder that Linn keeps producing for investors.

Returns this past year are running at more than 73 percent - 15 times better than the biggest oil company in the S&P 500.

And that's not a recent fluke. Dating from January of 2006, Linn's average annual return is twice that of the biggest US oil company, and more than 3 times that of the average the petrol tracked inside the S&P 500.

And Linn keeps paying its investors with a dividend running currently at over 10.2 percent - which has been rising at an average annual rate of more than 29 percent since the company went public.