Dividend Aristocrats Plus · a defensive quality sleeve
A low-turnover basket of S&P 500 companies with 25+ years of dividend growth, filtered by payout ratio and leverage. The ideal first systematic allocation.
Not every systematic strategy needs to trade 500 times a year. This template rebalances annually, costs almost nothing, and teaches you how quality factors compound over time.
Quality-filtered dividend aristocrats basket
Why this works
Companies with 25+ years of uninterrupted dividend growth have a self-selection bias: they have durable cash flows and capital discipline. The three filters turn a nostalgia list into a screen with quality bias. Low turnover (annual rebalance) means fees and taxes barely matter — ideal first strategy for retirement-style allocations.
Common pitfalls
- Buying the full list without filters. The unfiltered basket is flat with the index after adjusting for beta.
- Assuming yield momentum means higher future yield. It means growing dividend, which compounds differently.
- Rebalancing quarterly. Annual is the teaching default — more frequent just costs money without signal improvement.
Try it yourself
Fork the template into your workspace. The entire configuration — code, parameters, backtest window, cost model — lands in a new private session. Tweak it, break it, and see how robust the edge actually is.
Backtest result
Equity curve
Universe: 25+ years dividend growth. Filters: payout < 70%, debt/EBITDA < 3x, trailing yield rising YoY. Rebalance annually.
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Fork it into your workspace.
The whole template — code, parameters, backtest config — lands in a new private session. Tweak it, run it, break it, learn.