Good old-fashioned dividends are coming back into vogue. Nearly three years after previously soaring stocks came crashing down, investors are starting to show more interest in getting a steady income stream from equity investments.
Merrill Lynch Investment Managers is one fund manager that is making a push for high-yielding stocks, rejecting the idea that they are lower-growth investments simply because income is gained at the expense of capital growth
Michael Jones, head of UK third-party retail at MLIM, explains: "In the late 1990s, people weren't worried about dividends and were just chasing the stock price [gains]." He adds: "For example, if capital gain was 20% every year with a 2% to 3% yield then dividends were a secondary concern. Now, if capital gain is 5% to 6% and yield is 3% to 4% the dividend has more value."