Generating safe, regular income and preserving capital are two primary objectives in retirement. The best retirement stocks to buy, then - whether you're buying in 2019 or any other year - must be quality dividend payers that can help meet both of those goals in the long-term.

Unlike many fixed-income investments, numerous dividend stocks offer relatively high yields, grow their payouts each year and appreciate in price over time as their businesses generate more profits and become more valuable.

Not all dividends are safe, however. From General Electric (GE) and Owens & Minor (OMI) to L Brands (LB) and Buckeye Partners LP (BPL), several high-profile dividend-payers slashed their payouts in 2018, sending their stock prices tumbling. So the dividend stocks you depend on must be chosen with care.

These are the 19 best retirement stocks to buy for 2019. Research firm Simply Safe Dividends developed a Dividend Safety Score system that has helped investors avoid more than 98% of dividend cuts, including each of those companies listed above. The 19 stocks on this list have solid Dividend Safety Scores and generous yields near 4% or higher, making them appealing retirement stocks for income. Importantly, they also have strong potential to maintain and grow their dividends in all manner of economic and market environments.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP

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Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (BIP, $37.50) is a master limited partnership (MLP) that owns a diverse array of long-life assets, including electrical transmission lines, toll roads, rail lines, midstream infrastructure and wireless towers. And these difficult-to-replicate assets collectively generate very predictable cash flow. In fact, 95% of the firm's adjusted EBITDA is generated by regulated or long-term contracts.

As a result, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has been able to predictably increase its distribution every year since going public in 2008. Going forward, management continues targeting a conservative payout of 60% to 70% of funds from operations and expects to generate 5% to 9% annual distribution growth.

This MLP sports an investment-grade credit rating, more than $2 billion in liquidity and numerous opportunities for growth as countries around the globe continue building, expanding and upgrading their infrastructure. All this should keep the partnership's payout on solid ground.

It's also worth noting the partnership structures its activities to avoid generating unrelated business taxable income. Therefore, unlike most limited partnerships that can have more complicated taxes, Brookfield's units (shares of ownership in an MLP) are suitable for owning in retirement accounts.

As a Canadian company, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will withhold 15% of its distribution to U.S. investors. But due to a tax treaty with Canada, U.S. investors can deduct this amount dollar-for-dollar as part of the foreign withholding