45 Ideas for Getting More Yield

Pick the low-hanging fruit, or reach for more luscious returns.

These are frustrating times for income investors. Thanks to the Federal Reserve's efforts to foster economic growth, traditionally safe investments, such as money market funds, pay zilch. So to get any sort of yield today, you must take on risk. As always, the questions are: How much income do you crave, and how much risk are you willing to accept?

We list 45 investments that pay from 2.1% to 20.6%, as well as eight safe havens that barely move the needle. Determine how much risk you can stomach, then decide whether you want to pick the low-hanging fruit for a little yield or go out on a limb for the juiciest returns.

We've also included a primer on the less-common investments you'll encounter if you're going to reach for higher returns, as well as some cautionary guidance about pitfalls of the high-yield universe.

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13 Investment Ideas That Yield 2-4%

13 Investment Ideas That Yield 4-6%

9 Investment Ideas That Yield 6-9%

10 Investment Ideas That Yield 10%+

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Nellie S. Huang
Senior Associate Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance

Nellie joined Kiplinger in August 2011 after a seven-year stint in Hong Kong. There, she worked for the Wall Street Journal Asia, where as lifestyle editor, she launched and edited Scene Asia, an online guide to food, wine, entertainment and the arts in Asia. Prior to that, she was an editor at Weekend Journal, the Friday lifestyle section of the Wall Street Journal Asia. Kiplinger isn't Nellie's first foray into personal finance: She has also worked at SmartMoney (rising from fact-checker to senior writer), and she was a senior editor at Money.