Are you currently in (or nearing) retirement and looking for a way to get some extra income from shares?
I believe that investing in ASX shares that pay high dividends are a much better alternative than keeping your money in a savings account or term deposit, where the interest you earn often doesn't even cover inflation. This is especially true given the latest interest rate cut announced earlier in the week.
With the current volatility in the share market, some investors may be thinking it seems all too hard. Perhaps it is safer to keep money in the bank. But it's important to keep in mind that this kind of market volatility that we're experiencing right now does happen from time to time. Shares can go down in the short term but history has shown that the market always bounces back eventually.
Shares have the great advantage of providing capital gains, despite any short-term volatility like we're witnessing now, provided that you have a long-term investment horizon. Plus, dividend-paying ASX shares can set you up with an additional stream of income along the way.
So, with that being said, here are 2 ASX dividend shares to provide you with some extra income in retirement, as well as capital growth over the long-term.
As an added bonus, as a company's share price drops, its dividend yield increases. This means that both of these companies are now offering even more attractive dividend yields than they were 2 weeks ago.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA)
Like most ASX shares, the Commonwealth Bank share price has lost some ground amidst the recent market turmoil. However, I believe this provides investors with an opportunity to buy a top-quality ASX dividend-paying share at a more favourable price.
Commonwealth Bank recently delivered a solid set of first-half results in a very challenging operating environment of low interest rates and relatively low credit growth. These results saw the bank's operating income grow to $12,416 million for the half, a solid 3.5% increase on the second half of FY19.
I believe that Commonwealth Bank is well-positioned to deliver relatively strong revenue growth over the next couple of years, driven by a recovering housing market. CBA shares are also offering a generous trailing dividend yield right now of 5.83%, which grosses-up to 8.33% with full franking.
Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)
Wesfarmers remains a successful, highly diversified business with operations in general retail segments as well as a number of industrial segments.
What appeals to me about Wesfarmers right now is that it is a defensive type of share. This means that the company is, theoretically, in a better position than most to ride out any share market volatility, such as the big moves we've recently been experiencing.
This is further supported by Wesfarmers' strong balance sheet with a diversified portfolio of cash-generating businesses in market-leading positions. In my opinion, the Aussie conglomerate is well-positioned for strong growth over the next five years.
Wesfarmers shares are also offering an attractive 3.9% trailing dividend yield, which grosses-up to 5.57% with full franking. After reaching an all-time high of $47.42 last month, Wesfarmers shares can now be purchased at a more favourable price of $39.20.
