With November right around the corner, speculation is rife whether the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will cut interest rates once more for the year when it meets on Melbourne Cup day. Regardless if the cash rate goes to 0.5% or stays at its current level of 0.75%, the outcome is still bleak for savers and cash holders.
After all, your 1.5% savings account interest rate is pretty much balancing out inflation, so if it goes to 1.25% next week, I'm afraid it's all over for real cash returns.
That's where dividends shares come in. The ASX has many dividend-paying companies that offer yields well over what you can get anywhere else at the moment. Although shares are much more volatile than cash, choosing the right ones can mean great benefits for your long-term wealth.
Here are 2 ASX dividend shares that I think are worth a closer look.
AGL Energy Ltd (ASX: AGL)
AGL is one of the largest non-public providers of electricity and gas in the country – owning both generation assets (power plants) and a retail business. Power and gas are highly inelastic goods/services, meaning that demand is relatively consistent regardless of the economic climate.
Thus, I see AGL's defensive qualities as worthy of an investment – especially considering AGL has a trailing dividend yield of over 6%. Despite what happens over the next decade or two, I don't see our need for electricity and gas going anywhere, and so I think AGL would be a great core stock to hold in a dividend portfolio.
WAM Research Ltd (ASX: WAX)
WAM Research is a listed investment company that specialises in investing in small- to mid-cap ASX companies that show growth potential. It has returned an average of 16.7% to its shareholders since 2010, and currently offers a massive dividend yield of 6.5%, which grosses up to 9.28% including franking.
Such performance matched with this massive dividend makes this company well worth including in an income portfolio, in my view.
Foolish takeaway
Both of these shares would prove to be great dividend stocks to buy and hold for income, in my view. Although both companies do not come cheap on today's prices, sometimes in these high markets you have to pay a premium for quality yield.
