The news keeps getting better for dividend investors. But can it last? The latest sign of a dividend renaissance is Apple's decision to begin sharing some of its profits with shareholders for the first time in nearly two decades. The world's most valuable company will start paying a dividend later this year, rather than continue to stockpile cash from iPhone and iPad sales. That announcement came a week after major banks moved to restore their dividends, after cutting them during the financial...

Dawn Josephson could barely believe it when she found health insurance that would actually cover the cost of treating her young son’s eye condition. Josephson, a freelance editor, wife and mother of two in Jacksonville, Fla., had been spending as much as $1,000 a month of her family’s budget on surgery, doctor visits, tests, and treatments in the seven months since 2-year-old Wesley awoke one morning with his eyes pointed toward each other, a condition called strabismus. That was on top of the...