Take a Look at Dividend-Producing Stocks

We're in this unusual environment, particularly if you're an investor looking for income. And the reason is it's a very weak recovery -- the economies throughout the world are not coming back the way people had hoped. And in order to combat that, institutions like the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve in the United States -- those responsible for interest rates -- are keeping them low for the foreseeable future. Income-seeking investors face something of a conundrum. Interest rates in the UK have remained at a three-hundred-year low for over two years but yields on cash deposits and government bonds (gilts) cannot keep pace with the rate of inflation, which is currently in excess of the Bank of England's two per cent target. In such an environment, income-seeking investors have found it increasingly hard to achieve their income targets by traditional means, while inflation has eroded the real value of their portfolios. It has become increasingly difficult to find core investment opportunities that generate a meaningful yield. Today, the yield on dividend-paying equities outstrips yields on traditional fixed income and equity indices -- as well as cash deposits. For this reason, investors may wish to take a look at dividend paying stocks.