The Tools I Use to Research Dividend Stocks

What I use, how I use it, and whether it's worth your money.

I've tested dozens of investing tools over the years. Most of them are fine. A few are excellent. These are the two that survived. The platforms I actually open every week to research, score, and track the stocks in my universe.

1. Stock Simplifier Pro

What it is: A professional analysis tool that walks you through my six-step dividend framework (business, moat, management, growth, risk, valuation) and lets you score each section as you go.

Why I use it: This is my primary research tool. Every stock in the Dividend Universe has been run through Stock Simplifier. When I publish a Buy First pick or a Best Buys recommendation, the Stock Simplifier analysis is what's behind it.

What used to take me an entire weekend now takes about 15 minutes. I open Stock Simplifier, pull up a ticker, and work through each step. By the end, I have a complete picture: is the business durable, is the dividend safe, and is the price fair?

I use it live every Thursday during the weekly webinar. If you want to see it in action before committing, that's the best way.

What I use it for:

• Running every stock through the six-step framework
• Scoring businesses on quality, moat, and safety
• Estimating fair value and setting Buy Below prices
• Tracking my watchlist and monitoring conviction changes
• Live analysis during the weekly Thursday webinar

Pricing: $399/year standalone. Included free with the Partner Plus plan ($1,299/year), which also gets you the full Dividend Universe, Buy First stocks, Best Buys, and weekly research.

2. Fiscal.ai

What it is: A financial data platform with deep historical data and clean visualizations.

Why I use it: Fiscal is where I pull all of my financial data: revenue trends, earnings history, dividend growth rates, payout ratios, balance sheet metrics. If you've seen a chart in one of my articles, it almost certainly came from Fiscal.

I can look at a company's 10-year dividend growth rate, overlay it against free cash flow, and see immediately whether the payout is sustainable. That's the kind of analysis that takes hours in a spreadsheet and minutes on Fiscal.

What I use it for:

• Pulling historical financial data for deep dives
• Charting dividend growth, payout ratios, and cash flow trends
• Screening for stocks that meet my quality criteria
• Building the comparison tables in my articles

Pricing: Free tier available. Paid plans from $19/month. Visit Fiscal.ai →

The bottom line

You don't need both of these tools to invest in dividend stocks. The framework is what matters. The tools just make it faster.

If I had to pick one, it would be Stock Simplifier. It's the only tool that's built specifically around the six-step framework I use for every stock in the universe. Fiscal is general purpose. Stock Simplifier is built for this.

Not sure yet? Join my free Thursday webinar. I analyze a real dividend stock live using Stock Simplifier every week. Bring your questions, watch the framework in action, and decide for yourself.