There is uncertainty in how the next few years could play out, with geopolitics, inflation, interest rates and AI all being present in the market's mind. For investors that regularly worry about the latest news and global changes, resilient ASX dividend shares could be a wise and reassuring choice.
While no share price is impervious to declines, there are some businesses that I'd expect to fare better in a bear market than others because of their robust earnings.
I recently invested in one of them and I'm expecting to invest more in the coming months because of what it offers shareholders.
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Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (ASX: CLW)
This is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns a diversified portfolio of properties across Australian cities.
Diversification itself is a useful trait of the REIT because it lowers the risk of being over-exposed to one particular property sub-sector. It also means the business can look across a wide scope of opportunities to ensure it's future-proof rather than being limited to a weakening sector.
One of the best reasons to like this business is that it has a long weighted average lease expiry (WALE), which is how long the average tenant is signed on with the rental agreement. A long WALE suggest excellent rental security and visibility – this ASX dividend share has a WALE of around nine years.
The ASX dividend share's income is growing thanks to contracted rental increases, with like-for-like net property income (NPI) growth of 3% in FY25. Its tenants are largely in defensive sectors like hotels and pubs, service stations, data centres, telco exchanges, grocery and distribution, and so on.
In FY26, it expects to grow its distribution by 2% to 25.5 cents per security. That works out to be a forward distribution yield of around 6%, at the time of writing.
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL)
Soul Patts is one of the most defensive businesses on the ASX, in my view, and it's one I'm regularly investing in.
The investment conglomerate has a diversified portfolio across multiple sectors, including resources, telecommunications, financial services, swimming schools, agriculture, a water fund, credit, building products, industrial properties and plenty more.
The ASX dividend share generates its cash flow from a variety of sources, allowing it to continue paying its dividend throughout all parts of the economic cycle. That diversification also allows the business to look across a wide array of potential opportunities for returns.
It has a long-term record of outperforming the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) and it has grown its annual dividend every year since 1998, demonstrating an excellent track record of consistency.
I'm expecting the business will still be thriving in 10, 20 and 30 years, even if its portfolio has to change substantially over that time.
Based on the FY25 payout, it has a grossed-up dividend yield of around 4%, including franking credits, at the time of writing.
