GRAB THESE GREAT YIELDS

In an uncertain market, you can still pocket juicy payouts ranging from 4% to 14%, depending on risk.

- BY ANDREW TANZER

BECAUSE we can’t divine the future, investing always involves some uncertainty. Still, the economic and market outlook this year seems cloudier than usual, due largely to stiff tariff increases and policy uncertainty in the second Trump administration. Major stock indexes have already corrected sharply from their highs.

But for yield-oriented investors who keep their nerve, the opportunity set may be improving. “You can get high yield in a lot of investments without reaching for unnecessary risk,” says Andy Kapyrin, head of portfolio construction at Corient, a financial advisory firm. Pro investors with ice running through their veins, such as David Sherman, founder and chief investment officer of high-yield bond specialist CrossingBridge Advisors, thrive at times like these. “When the market is weak, we’re super excited,” Sherman says. “We think it will be a buying opportunity, and we're already adding certain positions.”

After all, declines in prices of “risky” assets such as stocks, high-yield bonds, real estate investment trusts and energy infrastructure push up yields—unless, of course, dividends are cut. Investors thus are paid well while sitting out a market storm. There is “real yield” (that is, after-inflation yield) available even in ostensibly risk-free Treasuries and other high-quality investment-grade bonds, which wasn’t the case several years ago during the “zero yield” era.

This guide will help you find attractive income-producing investments in nine different asset-class categories, ranging from low-risk, ordinary securities to more-complex, higher-risk and potentially higher-return investments. We've listed investments roughly in ascending order of risk, starting with four fixed-income asset classes.