Lazy investor: This dividend growth stock deserves a permanent place in your TFSA

It’s not uncommon for novice investors to feel the need to constantly monitor the market, time every dip and shuffle their portfolio every few months in order to be successful. But for Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSA) investors, the opposite is often true. Some of the best long-term results come from finding solid, reliable, and high-quality dividend growth stocks that can grow quietly and build your capital for years to come.

You don’t have to trade or follow the trend every week. In fact, it’s incredibly difficult to try. Instead, you’ll be much better off owning companies that grow consistently, generate reliable cash flow, and reward shareholders year after year.

That’s exactly why dividend growth stocks are ideal for lazy investors. They never require much maintenance, they steadily increase their payouts, and they let your wealth build tax-free within a TFSA.

Even during periods of market volatility, companies with long track records of dividend growth often outperform the rest of the market because their earning power is almost always tied to key parts of the economy.

Plus, when you combine that stability with consistent dividend increases, you get returns that are driven as much by predictable earnings as they are by share price appreciation.

So if you’re looking for a high-quality dividend growth stock to buy in your TFSA and hold for years or even decades, here’s why Canadian utilities (TSX:CU) is a top pick.

The ultimate dividend growth stock

There’s no doubt that Canadian Utilities is a stock that a TFSA investor can buy once and hold forever. It is one of the most reliable dividend growth stocks on the entire TSX, backed by a business model based on regulated, contract-driven profits.

The dividend growth stock operates electric and natural gas utilities in Alberta, Saskatchewan, parts of Northern Canada and internationally, and its cash flow comes from essential services that households and businesses need no matter what the economy is doing.

This is exactly the kind of stability lazy investors should be looking for. Canadian Utilities’ operations are largely rate-regulated, meaning it earns predictable, inflation-linked returns on the infrastructure it builds.

That makes it the perfect stock for dividend growth. The steady and predictable cash flow allows the company to consistently increase dividends while preserving capital to invest in future growth.

And its track record over several decades and every conceivable type of market environment shows how reliable an investment it is. In fact, Canadian Utilities has the longest dividend growth streak in Canada, at more than 50 years.

It’s worth noting that compared to some of its peers, Canadian Utilities’ growth is a bit more modest; however, the trade-off is reliability. Its asset base includes a diversified mix of regulated natural gas and electricity businesses, along with exposure to Alberta’s energy corridor, which continues to play an important role in the Canadian economy.

Furthermore, unlike many of its peers, Canadian Utilities still trades at a reasonable valuation, at just 16.9 times forward earnings, and offers a current price. dividend yield of 4.4%.

So if you’re looking for a dividend growth stock to buy in your TFSA and hold for years, Canadian Utilities is undoubtedly a top choice.