If you want to retire with a steady stream of passive income, there are more than a few ways to make it happen. Acquiring rental properties is one of the most popular methods, but managing properties and finding tenants who can reliably pay their bills makes this method less passive than many retirees would like it to be.

Investors who want to generate a truly passive income should consider these dividend-paying stocks. These businesses have strong advantages that allow them to generate profits that have grown reliably for decades.

At recent prices, these three stocks offer a 6.4% yield on average. This means an up-front investment of $1,580 spread evenly among them is more than enough to produce $100 in dividend income over the next 12 months.

The exceptional businesses underlying these three stocks have what they need to steadily raise their dividend payouts. Read on to see how the payments they deposit in your brokerage account could rise a great deal by the time you're ready to retire.

1. Verizon

The past several years have been frustrating ones for Verizon (NYSE: VZ) shareholders. The telecommunications giant has raised its quarterly payout for 17 consecutive years, but you wouldn't know it by looking at its chart. The stock is about 36% below the peak it set in 2019.

At recent prices, shares of Verizon offer a juicy 6.7% yield, and investors can reasonably expect more in the years to come. Landline phones and wireline internet connections are becoming scarce, but the company's 5G infrastructure investments are offsetting those losses.

Last year, total revenue fell 2.1% due to lower sales of smartphones and other equipment, but revenue from services remained flat.

Now that Verizon's largest 5G investments are in its rearview mirror, profits available to distribute as dividends are soaring. Free cash flow rose 33% to $18.7 billion in 2023. As one of three telecom companies operating a large 5G network in the U.S. market, we can reasonably expect Verizon's profits and dividend payout to continue rising for at least another decade.

2. AT&T

In 2022, AT&T (NYSE: T) sold its media assets and cut its quarterly dividend payout in half. The stock has declined too since then, and at recent prices, it offers a big 6.5% yield.

Now that AT&T runs a straightforward telecom operation similar to Verizon's, investors can look forward to the return of annual payout raises. In 2023, total revenue rose 1.4%, driven by consumer broadband sales. AT&T Fiber added 1.1 million new subscribers in 2023, making it the sixth year in a row with more than 1 million new signups.