The 20 income stocks and funds Livewire readers rely on most

That is a far cry from a few years ago, when 2-3% looked generous for anything outside equities.

Investment Theme

Income investing in 2026: Are investors missing the middle?

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So, when we asked readers in that same survey what had been a reliable income fund, ETF or stock in their portfolios, I expected to see a shift towards cash, fixed income, and products offering exposure to these asset classes, and away from equities.

But after two decades of experience with Australian investors, I should’ve known better.

Below are the 20 stocks, ETFs and funds most commonly nominated by readers.

The 20 income stocks and funds readers nominated most

(Scroll right for yield figures)

Source (Yield): MarketIndex.com.au. Note: I’ve excluded generic mentions of product categories, such as “ETFs”, “international shares”, “LICs”, and “term deposits”, all of which would’ve made the list had I counted them as products.

The first thing to note is that this is not a particularly defensive-looking list.

There were cash products, credit funds and fixed-income exposures among the broader survey responses, but the names that rose to the top were mostly listed equities, equity ETFs and listed investment vehicles.

BHP (ASX: BHP) was the clear number one, with 178 nominations, followed by the Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF (ASX: VHY), Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA), the Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS) and Telstra (ASX: TLS).

Resources remain central to the Australian income conversation. BHP, Woodside, Fortescue and Rio Tinto all made the list, despite the fact that dividends from miners and energy companies can vary significantly through the cycle. These companies can be strong income generators at the right point in the cycle, but they are also exposed to commodity prices, capital spending needs and global demand.

The banks are still popular, with Commonwealth Bank ranked third overall, while NAB, Westpac and ANZ also made the list. For many Australian investors, the major banks have long been treated as core income holdings, helped by regular dividends and franking credits. Whether current valuations leave enough room for future returns is a separate question, but as income names in readers’ portfolios, the big banks clearly still have a strong following.

The ETF results were a little more mixed. VHY’s popularity is easy to understand in this context: it offers diversified exposure to higher-yielding Australian shares, making it a natural fit for an income survey. VAS is broader, but still gives investors exposure to the Australian dividend pool.

Why did gold, NDQ and VGS make the income list?

NDQ and VGS are less obvious inclusions. Both made the top 20 despite being better understood as growth or broad global equity exposures than dedicated income products. Gold also made the list, despite paying no income at all.

This was not an isolated quirk. Further down the responses, there were several more examples of readers nominating low- or no-yielding assets, including ETFs, direct Australian and international shares, and physical commodities. In total, around 5% of respondents nominated a product, stock or asset that paid little or no income.

Gold, NDQ and VGS also ranked ahead of several higher-yielding stocks and income-focused products, including Dalrymple Bay Infrastructure, Dicker Data, Betashares Australian Top 20 Equity Yield Maximiser Fund, Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund, Betashares Active Australian Hybrids Fund and Gryphon Capital Income Trust.

That suggests some readers may be thinking in terms of total return, diversification or portfolio resilience, rather than income alone. It is also a reminder that investors do not always draw a neat line between income, growth, diversification and capital preservation.

LICs and listed income funds still have a role

Listed investment companies and listed income vehicles were another clear theme. WAM Capital, WAM Leaders, Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Plato Income Maximiser all featured among the most nominated names.

Plato Income Maximiser is worth singling out, because it is one of the more explicitly income-focused strategies in the top 20. Unlike some of the broad equity ETFs and large-cap shares nominated by readers, PL8 is designed around monthly income and franking.

Its appearance alongside BHP, CBA, VHY and VAS suggests readers are not ignoring specialist income products altogether. They are simply using them alongside the more familiar building blocks of Australian portfolios.

Overall, the list reinforces the broader finding from this year’s Income Series survey: the “middle” of the income market appears in the responses, particularly through listed income vehicles, credit funds and diversified products, but Australian equities remain the anchor.

Rates and tax policy could reshape income preferences

Where this goes next may depend heavily on the path for interest rates.

If cash and term deposits continue to offer yields around 5%, the case for taking on additional complexity, duration risk or credit risk will need to be clear. For many investors, a high-interest savings account or term deposit will remain a hard benchmark to beat.

But if rates fall, the trade-offs may start to look different. Fixed-rate bonds and bond funds may become more appealing, while the income available from cash could become less compelling. Lower rates could also push more investors back towards equities, listed income vehicles, hybrids, private credit and other assets that offer the potential for higher yield.

Tax policy will also be critical, as we’ve seen with the recently announced changes to CGT and negative gearing.

Readers still want help understanding the middle

The survey results and reader feedback suggest franking credits remain a major part of the appeal of Australian dividend stocks, LICs and some equity-income strategies. Any changes that affect the after-tax value of income would likely influence how investors compare dividends, bond income, cash rates, private credit distributions and other sources of return.

The comments on our opening Income Series article also made one thing clear: many readers are not ignoring the “middle” of the income market out of neglect. In many cases, they find fixed income, hybrids, private credit and other income assets harder to understand, harder to evaluate, or less familiar than shares and equity funds.

Some pointed to the poor recent performance of bond funds. Others said they were comfortable with dividends because they understood shares, or because they valued the combination of income, potential capital growth and franking. Several readers also highlighted the appeal of LICs, while others said they wanted more regular distributions from listed vehicles.

We have explored some of these questions in the expert interviews published as part of this Income Series, including how investors might think about bonds, credit, private markets and listed income vehicles. But the response from readers suggests there is still room for more practical explainers on how these assets work, how they differ, and how investors might assess the risks involved, so we'll aim to bring more educational content on these topics for those interested.