Your portfolio should be like a well-balanced meal, containing a range of investments offering different degrees of income and risk. The specific mix depends on your age, goals and risk tolerance. On the low-risk side, you can't beat Treasury securities. Moving up the income scale, you might consider investment-grade corporate bonds. Another source of better income with relative safety is preferred stock.
Preferred stock is more like a bond than a stock.
If income and dividend payments become a problem, the same pecking order applies. There are different levels of preferred stock, however, meaning some preferred stockholders would be paid before others. But don't make investment decisions based on who gets paid first if the company goes under. With preferred stock, choose quality corporations with high credit ratings. And investing in companies listed on the major stock exchanges makes it easy to buy and sell.