There's a select group of high-yield ASX dividend stocks that I'd prefer to own over receiving the Age Pension. One of them is the real estate investment trust (REIT) Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (ASX: CLW).
The business is a commercial property owner with a diversified portfolio, which I'll talk about in a moment.
Currently, a single Australian can receive a maximum annual pension of around $31,200. That's one of the most generous in the world; we are a lucky country. It's attractive, but I'd rather receive $31,200 of passive income from the Charter Hall Long WALE REIT for three reasons.
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The high-yield ASX dividend stock has asset backing
The appealing thing about owning REIT units is that they not only deliver passive income but are also backed by a large property portfolio with significant value.
Charter Hall Long WALE REIT is invested across a number of defensive and resilient tenant industries, including government entities (such as Geoscience Australia), hotels and pubs, grocery and distribution, telecommunication exchanges, data centres, service stations, food manufacturing, waste and recycling management, Bunnings properties, banking, financial, and defence services.
At 31 December 2025, its portfolio was worth a total of $5.9 billion. Its net tangible assets (NTA) per security – which includes the loans, the cash, and so on – was $4.68 at 31 December 2025.
Owning enough Charter Hall Long WALE REIT units to match the Age Pension could mean owning shares worth well over $450,000. I'd be comfortable holding that much because of the diversified portfolio.
Large distribution yield
The business is paying investors a very rewarding distribution, which means it can be a high-yield ASX dividend stock.
In FY26, the business grew its annual distribution by 2% to 25.5 cents per security. At the time of writing, this translates into a distribution yield of 6.7%.
The business is partly able to deliver such a good dividend yield because of its distribution payout ratio of 100%. It doesn't need to retain earnings to deliver rental profit growth because its rental income is growing via fixed/inflation-linked rental increases.
Capital growth potential
We've established that the business can provide an excellent level of passive income, but it can also provide capital growth.
At this valuation level, I think the business can deliver pleasing long-term capital growth.
For starters, the regular rental income growth is helping improve the value of the properties.
On top of that, interest rates are currently elevated in Australia. When rates reduce – possibly next year – that could be a tailwind for the Charter Hall Long WALE REIT unit price.
Finally, the business is trading at a 19% discount to its NTA of $4.68 as of December 2025.
How many shares to match the Age Pension?
Time will tell what the FY27 payout from the business is. But if it pays 25.5 cents per security again, an investor would need to own 122,353 Charter Hall Long WALE REIT units to generate $31,200 in annual income.
I think this is a compelling high-yield ASX dividend stock, though I wouldn't necessarily make it my entire portfolio. I'd choose to have a diversified portfolio of multiple ASX dividend stocks.
