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Dividend shares can be a great source of passive income. But if you’re over 50, you need to be selective with your stock picks to minimise risk.
Here, I’m going to highlight two dividend payers I think could be well suited to those aged over 50. Both offer attractive yields today but also have the potential to generate decent capital gains over the long run.
A London-based property company
First up we have Workspace Group (LSE: WKP). It’s a real estate investment trust (REIT) that offers flexible office space solutions across London.
The dividend here’s attractive. For the current financial year (ending 31 March), the REIT’s expected to pay out 29.5p in income. That equates to a yield of around 4.5%. Given that UK interest rates are falling, that could be significantly higher than the rates cash savings accounts are offering in 12 months’ time.
Looking beyond the yield, there are several things I like about this stock. One is that it stands to benefit from lower interest rates. In the years ahead, lower rates should reduce the REIT’s interest expense (it had net debt of £828m at the end of March) and boost profitability.
Another is that it looks well positioned to benefit from the shift back to the office. Today, companies across all industries are making moves to get employees back into the office and this could increase demand for office space.
It’s worth noting that management sounded pretty confident about the outlook in July: “Looking ahead, our scalable operating platform puts us in a strong position to continue to deliver near and long-term income and dividend growth, and we move into the second quarter of the year with positive momentum,” said CEO Graham Clemett.
Of course, economic weakness is a potential risk here. This could temporarily reduce demand for office space.
In the long run however, I think this REIT should do well on the back of London’s thriving start-up scene.
The second stock I want to highlight is Tesco (LSE: TSCO). It’s the largest supermarket operator in the UK with a near-30% market share.
The yield here isn’t super-high today. Looking at the dividend forecast for the financial year ending 28 February (12.9p per share), it’s about 3.5%.
But analysts expect a healthy level of dividend growth in the years ahead. Next financial year, the payout’s expected to climb to 14p per share, which pushes the yield to 3.8%. It’s worth noting that Tesco’s dividend coverage (the ratio of earnings to dividends) is high. So there’s plenty of scope for future dividend increases.
Now, Tesco operates in a competitive industry. In the years ahead, it’s likely to face intense competition from rivals such as M&S, Asda, and Aldi, so its market share could be at risk.
One thing that could give it an edge however, is its Clubcard scheme. Today, the company has over 20m Clubcard members. This means that it’s able to collect a ton of data from its customers. The more data it can collect, the better positioned it will be to prosper going forward.
Overall, I think the stock offers a nice mix of growth potential and defence. That’s why I see it as a good stock for those over 50 to consider.
