VShip and Dan Heath wrote a great book called Decisive years ago to make better decisions. One of the key steps the brothers discussed was taking some distance before making a final decision on something important. In other words, stop and think about it before you act.

This recommendation is almost always a smart thing to do when buying stocks. However, there are stocks with fantastic underlying companies that pay attractive dividends that I wouldn’t have to think about before picking up. Here are three dividend-paying stocks that I would buy now without any hesitation.

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Brookfield Renewable Power

It is pretty much a given that renewable energies will benefit from greater demand in the future. Countries and big companies are scrambling to reduce their carbon emissions.

Brookfield Renewable Power (NYSE: BEP) (NYSE: BEPC) stands out as one of the world’s leading suppliers of renewable energy. The company operates hydroelectric, wind, solar and storage facilities in North and South America, Europe and Asia.

It’s not just another boring utility stock. Brookfield Renewable has generated an annualized total return of almost 18% over the past two decades. He expects to generate annual returns of around 15% over the long term. The stock could easily surpass the whole market for years to come.

Part of the appeal of Brookfield Renewables is its high dividend. Its dividend yield is close to 3% (somewhat higher for limited partnership shares traded under the BEP ticker and slightly lower for shares of companies traded under the BEPC ticker). The company has increased its distribution by a compound annual growth rate of 6% since 2000.

Eastern Government Properties

What is the biggest risk for a real estate investment trust (REIT)? The possibility that its tenants cannot pay. However, there is one REIT that doesn’t have to worry about this scenario – Eastern Government Properties (NYSE: DEA).

As the name suggests, Easterly owns and leases properties from government agencies. For Easterly, that means federal agencies. All but two of its 82 properties currently held are leased to the US government.

Easterly continues to add new properties, however. The company recently upped its full-year profit forecast due to what CEO William Trimble called an “increasingly solid pipeline of exploitable acquisition opportunities.”

As a REIT, Easterly must remit at least 90% of its taxable income to shareholders as dividends. Higher profits therefore lead to higher dividend payouts. This is all the more interesting given that the Easterly dividend is already yielding 4.9%.

Innovative industrial properties

Imagine if you could buy a stock that operates in a high growth market that is also a REIT with a high dividend. You don’t need to use your imagination with Innovative industrial properties (NYSE: IIPR).

IIP is the leading provider of real estate capital for the medical cannabis industry. The niche of the business is sale-leaseback operations. In these deals, a medical cannabis operator sells property to IIP, which then leases the property to the operator.

As of July 6, 2021, IIP owned 72 properties in 18 states. At the end of 2020, she owned 66 properties. The REIT’s ‘flush and repeat’ strategy of adding new properties has seen it grow revenues by over 1,000% over the past three years, with profits skyrocketing by over $ 1. 500%. With the expansion of the US medical cannabis market, I believe the IIP can continue its momentum.

At first glance, IIP’s 2.8% dividend yield might look good, but not great. However, the company has quadrupled its dividend payout in the past three years. The yield is not higher for one simple reason: the IIP share price has climbed even more than its dividend. It’s the kind of dividend-paying stocks you can buy without thinking twice.

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Keith Speights owns shares of Brookfield Renewable Corporation Inc., Brookfield Renewable Partners LP and Innovative Industrial Properties. The Motley Fool owns shares and recommends Innovative Industrial Properties. The Motley Fool recommends Eastern Government properties. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.