Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started.

It's a good time to be a little defensive in the stock market, to look at stocks with a history of increasing earnings as well as dividends. While these don't tend to have a catalyst that will vault them into the stratosphere the way a tech or biotech stock can, they give a lot of comfort when there's so much turmoil in the market.

The first thing to think about when you're on defense is the shape of the economy and the kinds of items consumers always buy, no matter what the economy is doing. Consumer spending makes up about 2/3 of the U.S. economy. What the consumer does matters. Right now many consumers are having trouble paying their mortgages. Housing prices are going down in many areas of the country. Large mortgage lenders such as Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) and IndyMac Bancorp. (NYSE: IMB) k are having problems with their portfolios. Defensive investors won't be looking into the mortgage lending stocks for comfort.

More likely they'll be looking at companies that supply things that people must buy, things like drugs, toothpaste, gasoline, toilet paper (also known as bathroom stationery), soap, food, utilities, etc. These are the basics. They're supplied by many different companies, and many of those companies are improving, even in these difficult times. Here are just a few ideas (not recommendations for investing, but recommendations for more investigating):

Drugs:
GlaxoSmithKline Plc (ADR) (NYSE: GSK)
Roche Holding Ltd (ADR) (OTC: RHHBY)
AstraZeneca Plc (ADR) (NYSE: AZN)
Wyeth (NYSE: WYE)
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE)
Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK)

Household goods:
Colgate Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL)
Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG)
The Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX)
Church & Dwight Inc. (NYSE: CHD)

Food:
Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB)
Kellogg Company (NYSE: K)
H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ)
General Mills (NYSE: GIS)
Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT)

Utilities:
Energen Corporation (NYSE: EGN)
Equitable Resources, Inc. (NYSE: EQT)
Questar Corp. (NYSE: STR)
EnergySouth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENSI)
Southern Union Co. (NYSE: SUG)
Gateway Energy Corp. (OTC: GNRG)
Spectra Energy Corp. (NYSE: SE)
ITC Holdings Corp. (NYSE: ITC)
TXU Corp. (NYSE: TXU)

Again, these are ideas for research, not buying. I generated these with a screening program, using only the industry group and the net profit margin as variables. I've listed most of the stocks with the highest profit margins. That doesn't mean they're the best stocks or that they're right for you.

These give you a good beginning for a defensive portfolio, if you're so inclined. What you're looking for is the best stock in the industry group, which also pays a good dividend. Don't look only at one quarter's performance. Some stocks are good one-hit wonders, then fade. You want stocks that continually grow earnings and dividends. You can find that information on most financial websites such as AOL's Finance section or Investor's Business Daily.

With all the turmoil in the stock market currently, it will pay you pscyhic and real dividends to take some of your profits from stocks that are trading at high valuations and move that money into more defensive issues. If you're wrong, and the market takes off along with the stocks you've recently sold, then you've guessed wrong and won't make as much money. Chances are, though, that the new stocks you own will also move up with the market. If you're right, however, and the market gets even choppier or starts into a prolonged correction, you'll feel a lot better being on the defensive as other investors begin to scramble to be where you already are.