£1,000 to invest? 2 FTSE 100 shares with BIG dividends to buy now

I’m hunting for the best dividend-paying FTSE 100 stocks to buy right now. Here are a couple of big yielders I think could be too good for me to miss.

Powering up

SSE (LSE: SSE) is a share I sold out off several years back. But after recent reshaping this is a FTSE 100 dividend share I’m thinking of buying again. The sale of its retail operations to Ovo in 2019 has removed a huge thorn in the energy giant’s side. Its customer base here was collapsing as the number of cheaper, promotion-led suppliers in the market ballooned.

SSE’s other groundbreaking move has seen it commit to turbocharging the amount of energy it produces from renewable sources. The business owns and operates hydro plants and wind farms in the UK and it plans to treble the amount of electricity it produces from green sources by 2030. It has several gigantic projects up its sleeve like Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which will eventually power 6m homes.

Such ambitious plans leave a whacking great bill, naturally. And SSE has already had to dial down dividends a tad to allow it to realise its growth plans. After 25 straight years of annual dividend increases it rebased the dividend in fiscal 2020 to pay for its migration to green energy. It’s not totally inconceivable that shareholder payouts could suffer again as portfolio reshaping progresses.

This isn’t something that City brokers expect, however, at least not any time soon. Indeed they’re predicting dividends to keep growing following last year’s first increase following the rebasement. Consequently SSE sports mighty yields of 5.3% and 5.5% for the years ending March 2022 and 2023 respectively.

9.3% dividend yields

Admiral Group’s (LSE: ADM) another brilliant income stock I’m watching closely. Like SSE, it operates in a highly stable industry (in this case general insurance), a quality that allows cash flows and earnings to remain steady regardless of broader economic conditions. This gives it the confidence and the clout to pay big dividends, whatever the weather.

Well, I say whatever the weather. Of course extreme weather conditions as a result of climate change pose the threat of extreme and unpredictable cost rises at Admiral. This has the potential to significantly dent earnings and, as a consequence, dividends at such businesses.

There are still plenty of reasons why I’d buy this Footsie share. Its terrific brand power gives it the edge in an ultra-competitive industry, for example. I also like the steps it’s taking to embrace international markets to reduce reliance on the UK and boost earnings growth. The number of overseas customers on its books leapt 14% between January and June, to 1.71m.

The payout of particularly huge special dividends this year creates a monster 9.3% dividend yield for 2020. City analysts expect Admiral’s yields to remain elevated next year too, at a delicious 6%. Like SSE, this is a FTSE 100 share that I expect to deliver enormous dividends for years to come.