With an estimated 6m Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) investors holding over £650bn in assets, it’s clear that many people are now taking an active interest in planning for their retirement. And for those wanting to use their pension pots to provide a healthy income stream, dividend shares could be the answer.
Here’s one that’s currently yielding over twice the UK average.
A new name
Until March, Standard Life (LSE:SDLF) was known as Phoenix Group. The decision by the pension and savings group to adopt the name of its most famous brand makes sense to me.
Based on its 2025 dividend, it’s currently (13 September) one of the highest-yielding stocks on the FTSE 100. Since 2020, it’s increased its annual payout by 16.6%, as follows:
2020: 47.5p
2021: 48.9p
2022: 50.8p
2023: 52.65p
2024: 54p
2025: 55.4p
As an added bonus, there’s been some capital growth too. Over the period, its share price has risen by 30%. Someone investing £10,000 on 31 December 2020, would now be sitting on shares worth £13,000. And they’d have received £4,079 in dividends. Overall, that’s an amazing return of nearly 71%.
Can this continue?
After a strong set of results for the first half of 2026 (H126) – adjusted operating profit increased by 24.8% compared to H125 — the group raised its interim dividend by 2.6%.
In part, this has been made possible by increasing the proportion of earnings that comes from its fee-based businesses. During H126, 43.3% of its adjusted operating profit was generated from these capital-light revenue streams compared to 39.7% in H125.
Possible challenges include the threat of rivals taking market share. With more people assuming personal responsibility for their retirement planning, the number of individuals switching or consolidating funds is on the rise. A number of new entrants are seeking to take advantage of this. Of course, Standard Life could gain some new customers but its sheer size might be a hindrance when it comes to seeing off those with a lower cost base.
The group’s also vulnerable to volatile financial markets. With £327bn of equities and bonds on its balance sheet at 30 June, adverse movements could affect the group’s liquidity position, its earnings, and its dividend.
My view
Despite these risks, I remain a fan of the group. As well as its above-average dividend (no guarantees), I like the fact that it’s looking to expand through acquisition. It plans to buy the UK pension assets of Aegon. Subject to regulatory approval, the £2bn deal will see the group become the country’s largest pension and savings provider with 16m customers.
Also, the group’s doing particularly well from annuities. It re-entered the market in 2023 and now has a 15% market share. It’s also partnering with other institutional investors to target the acquisition of large (£2bn+) retirement schemes, which it says is the fastest growing segment of the lucrative pension risk transfer market.
In my opinion, the group’s in great shape and I think its shares are worth considering. But as much as I like Standard Life, this isn’t the only income stock that’s caught my attention recently. Fortunately, there are plenty of other high-yielding shares on offer at the moment that could also provide juicy dividends in a SIPP.
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James Beard owns shares in Standard Life plc.
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