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Don’t turn the page too quickly! The headline doesn’t mean this item is only suitable for the moneyed elite of Des Moines looking for a loyal family retainer or governess. This piece is more for working people with a little extra income and a lot of future obligations.

In the jargon of stock investment, there have been go-go, glamour stocks, the various e-prefixed Internet securities, not to mention the various I-shares. I’ve owned those fancy, sparkly labeled stocks, I’ve loved them, and I’ve hated them, but it is time to let a lot of them go. What I want now is a stock that I can call my faithful servant. I’d like a stock that might be considered a bit mundane but will serve me or my clients by paying out a sum every quarter over the course of many years.

My faithful servant would also grow into its role, become more productive and thus have a steadily increasing dividend. The stock price for my faithful servant should not fluctuate widely, since my servant would demonstrate reliable performance and be highly regarded by other employers. I would support additional investments in my servant if they would enhance its performance. I would also expect that my servant would have enough judgment not to engage in any activities that would impair its performance or that were beyond the range of its abilities.

Stocks that fit the faithful-servant description have traditionally been classified into non-cyclical, defensive or consumer non-discretionary categories and include utilities, consumer food and product companies, and waste-hauling companies. These companies are in industries that have lower but steadier growth characteristics. Let’s use a stock screener on the Internet to help us locate faithful-servant stock candidates.

I selected a range of values for sales growth, price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, profit margin and yield. The screener picked a number of stocks, but after eliminating the cyclical oil-related companies and the troubled banking industry, I’m presented with such well-known names as Coca-Cola Co., 3M Co., Intel Corp., Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft Corp. I feel confident that among these companies a fine employee will emerge.

But like any employer, I wonder how I can test the judgment of this servant. A good example is the banking industry, which has damaged its image of trustworthiness by engaging in businesses it did not understand and consequently destroyed billions of dollars’ worth of shareholder value. Another case would be when management enters a whole new business.

One would think that in these times faithful servants would be in demand and command high prices, but it’s not the case. The values for the stocks I listed are well below the P/E ratio for the market as a whole. Maybe now is a time when faithful servants are more available and affordable.

Frank Hayer is a registered investment adviser and owner of Signature Investments.