{"id":386322,"date":"2026-04-18T20:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/386322\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T20:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:42:16","slug":"57584-shares-of-this-high-yield-dividend-stock-pay-income-equal-to-the-state-pension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/386322\/","title":{"rendered":"57,584 shares of this high-yield dividend stock pay income equal to the State Pension"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Content<\/p>\n

Image source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

With the UK State Pension getting a chunky 4.8% bump at the start of the 2026\/27 tax year, retired Britons are now receiving up to \u00a3241.30 a week, or \u00a312,547.60 a year. But by leveraging high-yield dividend stocks, investors can aim to replicate this income stream long before reaching State Pension age.<\/p>\n

For example, right now, Legal & General (LSE:LGEN<\/a>) shares are paying out 21.79p per share in dividends at a massive 8.4% yield! That makes it the most generous income stock in the entire FTSE 100 right now.<\/p>\n

It means anyone who snaps up roughly 57,584 shares today could instantly unlock a passive income equal to the UK State Pension. But how much would this cost? And is it even a good idea?<\/p>\n

Crunching the numbers<\/p>\n

With Legal & General shares trading at around 259p, buying just under 58,000 shares isn\u2019t cheap. In fact, it\u2019ll cost an investor \u00a3149,142.56.<\/p>\n

Some lucky individuals might have close to \u00a3150k sat in the bank. But for most investors, that\u2019s unlikely to be the case. The good news is that by leveraging the power of compounding<\/a>, drip feeding money into Legal & General shares over time, and reinvesting any dividends received in the short term, this sizeable position can be gradually built.<\/p>\n

But whether someone is investing a massive lump sum today, or building a position over time, the core fundamental question remains. Is buying Legal & General shares in April a good investment?<\/p>\n

Risk versus reward<\/p>\n

Legal & General\u2019s one of the UK\u2019s largest financial services groups. It specialises in institutional retirement products, asset management services, and various consumer-focused life insurance products. And right now, the company has quite a few tailwinds at its back.<\/p>\n

Higher interest rates have triggered a massive surge in demand for annuities. And lots of corporate pension schemes are using these instruments to de-risk their long-term liabilities.<\/p>\n

This has turned Legal & General into a bit of a cash cow<\/a>, with substantial regulatory capital buffers and a chunky yield that makes income investors blush. But what\u2019s the catch?<\/p>\n

Even with a compelling bull case, not all institutional investors are rushing to buy shares. With lots of other insurance and asset management groups looking to capitalise on the surge in annuities demand, profit margins on this pension risk transfer opportunity are getting squeezed.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the group\u2019s asset management arm is highly sensitive to the macroeconomic landscape. And given all the uncertainty being created by geopolitical turmoil, Legal & General might see a slowdown in internal investment performance. That would make it harder to attract and retain investor capital and, with it, management fees.<\/p>\n

So where does that leave investors?<\/p>\n

The bottom line<\/p>\n

Legal & General has an impressive track record when it comes to dividends. Fun fact: excluding the pandemic, the company has raised shareholder payouts every year since 2009.<\/p>\n

But with dividends now outpacing earnings, the margin of error\u2019s narrowed significantly. And if a surprise spanner is thrown into the works, this winning streak could quickly come to an end.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, I\u2019m unconvinced Legal & General shares are a terrific investment right now, despite their popularity. Instead, I\u2019m looking elsewhere for income opportunities to match the State Pension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image source: Getty Images With the UK State Pension getting a chunky 4.8% bump at the start of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,111,139,69,244,245],"class_list":{"0":"post-386322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}