If you're trying to generate an income from traditional income-bearing assets such as term deposits, bond yields, or savings accounts, you'll do well to generate anything that convincingly beats inflation right now.
And with the cash rate tipped to go lower still, there's a good chance that these assets will soon be beaten by inflation. This essentially means that the value of your funds will actually diminish in real terms.
The good news is that you don't have to settle for the paltry interest rates on offer with term deposits and bond yields. Instead, you can look a little higher up on the risk scale at the countless dividend shares that the ASX has to offer.
Three dividend shares that I think would be great alternatives are listed below:
Scentre Group (ASX: SCG)
Scentre Group is the owner of all the Westfield buildings in Australia and New Zealand. Due to the quality of its portfolio and sky-high occupancy rate, I believe Scentre is well-placed to grow its distribution at a solid rate over the coming years. This year it plans to pay a 22.6 cents per security distribution, which equates to a 5.8% yield.
Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP)
Although this diversified Australian property company's shares have just hit a 52-week high, they still provide one of the more generous distribution yields on the local share market. It recently declared a final distribution of 14.1 cents per security, bringing its full year distribution to 27.6 cents per security. This means its units currently offer a trailing 5.9% distribution yield.
Transurban Group (ASX: TCL)
Transurban is a toll road operator which has been growing its dividend like clockwork over the last decade. And thanks to the increasing number of vehicles on its roads, recent acquisitions, and toll increases, I believe this can continue for a long time to come. At present Transurban's shares offer a trailing distribution yield of 3.9%.
