Stocks: Best Moves To Make Now

(CNN) — You may want your portfolio to throw off a decent amount of income, either to fund current needs or because you (quite sensibly) don’t want to rely on capital gains for all your investment returns. But with the distinct possibility of rising interest rates, higher inflation, and lower returns, bonds hardly look like a sure thing. So what else can give you income plus inflation protection? Actually, you have several options. Four popular ones: dividend-paying stocks, real estate investment trusts (REITs), preferred securities, and master limited partnerships (MLPs), which focus on the energy sector.