Australian investors buy ASX shares for many reasons. Some wish to make a quick buck, others want to maximise the returns they can get on their hard-earned dollars. But many investors buy shares to get an upfront source of cash flow and passive income that dividend-paying shares can provide.
Dividend shares are particularly desirable in Australia, thanks in part to the franking credits that can be attached to their payouts. This can enable investors who don't or can't work ordinary jobs to fund a happy retirement.
So today, let's discuss two ASX dividend shares that investors can buy today with the reasonable assumption that they will get some hefty, upfront passive income.
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2 ASX dividend shares that can immediately pay you hefty passive income
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC)
First, we have an ASX dividend stock that is very familiar to many income investors. ASX 200 bank share Westpac, along with its peers in the banking space, has long been a favourite for dividend hunters. That's understandable, given Westpac's decades-long history of paying out fat, fully franked dividends.
Like its peers, Westpac shares have risen substantially in recent years, hitting a ten-year high in February. Although this ascension has blunted Westpac's dividend yield, investors can still buy shares today at a yield of 4.4%.
As a major pillar of Australia's financial and property sectors, Westpac isn't going anywhere anytime soon. I fully expect it to continue paying substantial passive income to its investors for decades to come.
Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS)
Another passive income favourite, Telstra, is our next stock worth a look today. Telstra may not share Westpac's long history as an ASX share, only hitting the ASX following its privatisation in the late 1990s. However, it still offers a similarly robust track record of providing investors with significant cash flow.
Long-term Telstra investors might still recall the horror 2018 dividend cut. This was necessitated following a fundamental shift in Telstra's business model, thanks to the rise of the NBN. However, since then, the telco has been steadily ratcheting its dividend payments back up.
Its most recent passive income paycheque, the March interim dividend worth 9.5 cents per share, was a 5.55% rise over the same payout last year.
Like Westpac, recent share price gains have chipped away at Telstra's dividend yield. But even so, the company is trading on an attractive (and fully franked) 3.85% yield today.
