LONDON -- The last five years have been tough for those in retirement. Portfolio valuations have been hammered and annuity rates have plunged. There's no sign things will improve anytime soon, either, as the eurozone and the U.K. economy look set to muddle through at best for some years to come.

A great way of protecting yourself from the downturn, however, is by building your retirement fund with shares of large, well-run companies that should grow their earnings steadily over the coming decades. Over time, such investments ought to result in rising dividends and inflation-beating capital growth.

In this series, I'm tracking down the U.K. large caps that have the potential to beat the FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE) over the long term and support a lower-risk, income-generating retirement fund (you can see the companies I've covered so far on this page).

Today I'll take a look at Unilever (LSE: ULVR.L) , one of the world's largest consumer goods companies, whose brands -- which include Cif, Dove, Hellmann's, Bertolli, and Domestos -- we all use.

A share to hold forever?Unilever has a strong presence in emerging markets such as India. This has helped to fuel growth over the last decade. Let's take a look at how Unilever has performed against the FTSE 100 over the last 10 years:

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

See the rest here:
Is Unilever the Ultimate Retirement Share?