The stock market sell-off is intensifying, with the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) down 4.8% in the first three months of the year compared to an over 10% tumble in the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC).

All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.

Yields aren’t everything when it comes to income investing. Stock research should never start and end with sorting companies by yield alone and buying the top one. There’s a lot of nuance in market research,