Dividend stocks really are amazing things. After all, there are very few opportunities in life to earn some cash from doing nothing. And as Warren Buffett once said: “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”
With this in mind, here are five high-yielding shares that could unlock a magnificent income stream over the next 12 months.
A bit of a handful
The five in the table below are all FTSE 100 stocks, home to the UK’s most valuable listed companies with, generally speaking, the strongest balance sheets and most reliable earnings.
Although there can never be any guarantees when it comes to dividends, it means – in theory, at least – that their payouts should be among the most reliable around.
| Stock | Yield (%) |
|---|---|
| Legal & General (LSE:LGEN) | 8.8 |
| Land Securities Group | 7.3 |
| Aviva | 6.5 |
| NatWest Group | 5.9 |
| Persimmon | 5.6 |
| Average | 6.8 |
Their average yield is currently (2 April), 6.8%. If this is maintained, it means a £20,000 investment spread equally across all five could earn dividends of £1,360 over the next 12 months.
What about elsewhere?
Admittedly, there are plenty of stocks (apparently) offering a higher yield at the moment, including many outside the FTSE 100. But it always pays to look at the league tables closely as yields are usually quoted on a historic (trailing 12-months) basis.
A good example of this is Robert Walters. With a return in excess of 20%, the recruitment firm currently appears in the top three of high-yielding dividend stocks on the FTSE All-Share index. Although mathematically correct, the company has suspended its payout in the face of tough trading conditions. In reality, the stock’s now yielding zero.
A high yield could also be a sign that investors are expecting a cut.
Top of the pile
Returning to the five, the stock offering the highest return — and one that I have in my own portfolio — is Legal & General.
It has an excellent history of raising its dividend. However, a falling share price means its yield has risen steadily in recent years.
| Financial year | Dividend (pence) | Share price (pence) | Yield (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31.12.21 | 18.45 | 297.5 | 6.2 |
| 31.12.22 | 19.37 | 249.5 | 7.8 |
| 31.12.23 | 20.34 | 251.1 | 8.1 |
| 31.12.24 | 21.36 | 229.8 | 9.3 |
| 31.12.25 | 21.79 | 261.9 | 8.3 |
But acknowledging what I said earlier about high-yielding shares, I don’t think there are any immediate reasons to be concerned.
In 2025, its core operating earnings per share grew by 9% and it secured £11.8bn of new pension schemes to manage. By the end of the year, it had £1.2trn of assets under management, up £62bn.
However, its lacklustre share price remains a concern. Growth investors should probably look elsewhere.
And I think the fall in its Solvency II ratio is something to watch carefully. This is a measure of balance sheet strength and while the company retains over twice the level of reserves that regulators require, this measure fell from 232% to 202% during 2025.
But an ageing population and a greater awareness of the need for sensible retirement planning are likely to help it grow its top and bottom lines. Demand for annuities should also rise if interest rates remain higher for longer as a result of events in the Gulf region.
However, having last cut its payout in 2009, it’s Legal & General’s dividend that most appeals to me.
Final thought
I will have to do more research before deciding whether to buy any of the other five.
It’s best to think of them as a representative sample of the dozens of high-yielding shares that are currently available to investors, rather than as a shopping list.
