We have all heard it… Stodgy, for old people, yawn, boring! These have all been used to describe dividend growth investing. As a dividend growth investor, I sometimes think our strategy is the most misunderstood. Periodically, it is good to remind ourselves why we are dividend growth investors.

There are winners and there are champions in every walk of life. The difference is subtle, but very real. A champion is driven for success and will not let anything stand in its way. Some dividend stocks can be classified as champions.

Over the last couple of years we have seen companies fail to raise their dividend, cut their dividend and some even decided to stop paying their dividend. In some cases their financials did not warrant the change. So, how do you fin companies with a positive dividend culture?

As the year draws to a close there were very few companies of note increasing their dividends this week. With that, I thought it would be interesting to see who might be the big dividend raisers in 2010. Here are seven companies for your consideration:

There are certainly many ways to categorize the different styles of investing in dividend stocks, including yield, risk, growth, etc. Over the years, I have found that most dividend investing styles fall into one of the three major categories listed below:

With the recent decline in the U.S. dollar, investors are thinking more about international diversification. This can be accomplished by many different means. However, one method that is often overlooked is buying a large U.S. multi-national company.

I maintain an extensive database with a minimum of 10 years of information on each of the 110+ stocks that I track. This data is gathered from various sources deemed reliable.  Most data is generic and can be pulled from various sites. That is except some S&P risk and quality information (RQ).

Product demand for household and personal care products is generally stable and not affected by changes in the economy or geopolitical factors. Since the end of the year, many non-cyclical companies have seen dramatic increases, with one notable exception, Procter & Gamble (PG).