If you're seeking dividend income, bravo -- because dividends are hard to beat. Healthy and growing dividend-paying stocks will keep sending you cash, no matter whether the economy is booming or slumping. And that cash is handy not only for retirees. Younger investors can use it to just buy more shares of stock.

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One dividend payer to consider is UnitedHealth Group (UNH -0.64%), with a 2.8% dividend yield. Imagine you're seeking $1,000 in annual income from UnitedHealth stock. How many shares must you buy?

Well, a little math is required: Take that $1,000 and divide by the recent annual dividend amount of $8.84. You'll arrive at 114, which is the number of shares you'll need to own.

With UnitedHealth stock recently trading for about $308 per share, those 114 shares will cost you $35,112 -- a hefty sum. You may not be able to afford 114 shares right now, but if you can just buy, say, 32 shares for just under $10,000, you'll be looking at about $283 in annual income -- and that dividend is likely to grow over time, too.

The current payout of $8.84 is up from $6.60 in 2022 and $4.32 in 2019. So you may still reach $1,000 in annual income, eventually, with just 32 shares.

An important question, though, is whether you should invest in UnitedHealth. There are some pros and cons to consider. UnitedHealth has been getting a lot of bad publicity recently, especially after the murder of its CEO last year. And the healthcare environment is likely to change, with the current administration in Washington cutting medical funding and possibly eliminating pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs). (UnitedHealth owns the Optum Rx PBM.)

On the plus side is UnitedHealth's low valuation, with its shares recently near a five-year low. (Its recent forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 14 is well below the five-year average of 19.) Bulls see its problems as temporary and note that the company is still a giant, generating billions in free cash flow.