Thirdly, Held gave a nod to MLPs, which are publicly traded partnerships generally associated with energy infrastruture such as pipelines. "MLPs are one of the most important asset classes to emerge during the past five years," Held said. "They provide yields of around 6 percent and offer diversification from stocks and bonds, as well as inflation protection."
Emerging Dividends
Jeremy Schwartz, research director at fund company Wisdom Tree, said he's finding great yield opportunities in emerging markets. "There is $1 trillion in global dividends paid, and the U.S. is only 30 percent of that," he said.
Schwartz said emerging market dividends on average are both cheaper to buy and more generous with their payouts. He noted that U.S. large-cap stocks are sporting average yields of about 3 percent versus 4 percent for developed international markets and 4 percent to 5 percent—and sometimes more—in emerging markets.
"Emerging markets have faster-growing profits, GDP and dividends," Schwartz said. But he notes that international markets can be more volatile from a dividend paying perspective because unlike in the U.S., where companies are reluctant to cut dividends, many emerging market companies have few qualms with cutting dividends if they have a bad quarter or two.
"You have to be careful when screening for dividends in overseas markets," Schwartz said.
Think Tech
Steve Cucchiaro, chief investment officer at Windhaven Investment Management in Boston, said the tech sector will be a place for rising dividend payouts. He cited investor pressure on Apple to return cash to shareholders, as well as other large-cap tech companies that increasingly are boosting their dividend income payouts.
And like Jeremy Held, Cucchiaro is also a fan of global real estate. He said his firm began to overweight the sector in early 2012. He explained that global real estate as a whole took it on the chin in 2008 and 2011, which significantly boosted yields.
He posits that as long as the global economy doesn't go into recession, companies in this sector will keep generating positive earnings and dividend yield.