The Robots Are Coming for Insurance (and Paying Us 8.3% Dividends, Too)

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: February 24, 2026

There’s a group of stocks out there that most people think yield just 2%—or less.

But they’re way off. In reality, these “elite” payers yield 2X, 3X—and in the case of a stock we’ll talk about below, even nearly 4X that. I’m talking about a tidy 8.3% shareholder yield (remember that phrase) here.

This one has another advantage we love in a market like today’s, too: Its management team “buys the dips” in the share price for us. We don’t have to do anything at all!

Stocks like this are perfect for times like these, with the economy still ticking along nicely.

At the same time, we’re likely to see continued market choppiness as AI takes more industries to the woodshed.

But the major American insurance stock we’re going to dive into next doesn’t care. It’s already making money from AI. And as the tech boosts this company’s earnings and cash flows, I expect its 8.3% shareholder yield to climb higher still.

Aflac: A Dividend Stock at the Leading Edge of AI Disruption

We’ve discussed AI in the insurance industry before. The sector is ripe for AI disruption, as many of the things insurance companies do are good candidates for automation.

That’s not news to the management team at Aflac (AFL), which has automated 54% of its “wellness” claims—dental visits, eye care and the like. That’s a perfect job for AI because these customers don’t have to provide a raft of documents like, say, those filing disability or critical illness claims do.

The upshot for Aflac, a holding in the portfolio of my Hidden Yields service, is that it can reassign humans to more complex tasks, cut costs (including, yes, spending on new hires) and keep customers happy by processing claims faster.

What’s more, insurance is not likely to be disrupted the way, say, software stocks have been. After all, while you can use AI to “vibecode” your own app, you can’t use it to whip up your own insurance policy!

Which brings me to that 8.3% shareholder yield.

Shareholder Yield Beats Dividend Yield in Every Way

A dividend stock like Aflac has three ways to pay us:

• Its current payout: This is the dividend we get immediately after we buy.
• Dividend growth, which raises the yield on our original buy and acts like a “magnet” on the share price, with the rising payout pulling the share price up.
• Share buybacks, which cut the number of shares outstanding, juicing earnings per share and other per-share metrics.

Buybacks get a bad rap, but they shouldn’t, because when they’re done right (i.e., when the stock is cheap), they can juice our returns. This is another problem with the current yield—it tells us nothing about this buyback effect.

This is where shareholder yield, which includes buybacks and dividends, shines.

An 8.3% Shareholder Yield Is Aflac’s Best-Kept Secret

Over the last decade, Aflac has nearly tripled its dividend. That soaring payout has acted like a magnet, yanking the share price up as it’s soared:

Aflac’s “Dividend Magnet” Goes to Full Power

Because of that payout growth, investors who bought Aflac a decade ago are actually yielding 8.1% on their original buy now.

And that’s just the start of the company’s shareholder-return story.

Let’s move on to buybacks: Over the last decade, Aflac has taken 38% of its shares off the market, making all of the company’s per-share metrics (most importantly earnings per share) look better. And earnings per share drive share prices over time.

In addition, those buybacks fuel dividend growth, as they leave Aflac with fewer stocks in which it has to pay out. It’s no coincidence that Aflac’s dividend growth (in purple below) has taken off as its share count (in orange) has dropped:

Buybacks Ignite Aflac’s Share Price

Let’s zoom in on the last year for a moment. In the chart below, you can clearly see that management has tempered its buybacks when the share price has strengthened (as in the summer of 2025), then accelerated them on dips.

Management Buys the Dip for Us

That’s the kind of smart buyback management we love—and it’s a lot different from what many companies do: robotically buy back the same amount of stock whether it’s cheap or dear.

Which brings me back to shareholder yield, which combines all three shareholder rewards: current dividend, payout growth and buybacks. To calculate it, take the amount spent on buybacks and dividends in the last 12 months, deduct share issuances then divide that into the company’s market cap.

Aflac makes this easy for us: In its fourth-quarter earnings presentation, it broke this all down nicely:

Source: Aflac fourth quarter 2025 update

Here we see that in 2025, Aflac spent about $4.8 billion on dividends and buybacks, with a lean toward buybacks. (Which is okay by us, given the stock’s strong performance.)

With a $58-billion market cap (or the value of all outstanding shares) as of the end of 2025, we can say that Aflac has an 8.3% shareholder yield—again just a bit under four times the current dividend yield 2.2%.

Let me close with another fast mention of AI, because the tech ties back in here: As AI cuts Aflac’s costs and helps it tap new growth areas, I expect the company’s shareholder-friendly management team to share more of that wealth with us—and boost the firm’s shareholder yield as they do.

Start With Aflac—Then Build a Whole Portfolio of Big Shareholder Yields

Shareholder yield isn’t just another indicator to look at when picking dividend stocks. As we just saw with Aflac, it’s a whole new way of dividend investing.

Once you start applying it to other dividend stocks, you’ll be spotting big yields all over the place—and in plenty of stocks regular investors never bother to look at.

This strategy starts with a strong Dividend Magnet, like the one we saw with Aflac. As payouts rise, stock prices follow. Add in a smartly run buyback program and voila—you’ve got yourself a strong, and growing, shareholder yield.

There is a stock market saying Penny expensive, pound cheap as lots of investors would not buy a penny share because of the risk but would consider buying if the price rose.

Similarly with Renewables lots of investors will not take the risk of buying because of the high yields but IF/WHEN the price rises and the yield falls they may be enticed back into buying.

• Capitulation is the moment in which investors/traders lose hope in their long position and liquidate at a loss.
• When investors/traders capitulate, they sell for fear of a continual decline in the stock price.
• The end of a capitulation can present a buying opportunity due to the opinion that everyone who wanted to sell has already done so.

If you read any BB’s, you would have seen lots of investors posting they have sold out, capitulation.

The rules for the SNOWBALL for any new readers, there are only 3.

RULE 1

RULE 2

RULE 3

Here’s the plan.

The 2026 fcast is 10k. The SNOWBALL is ahead of fcast so it’s possible it could earn income for year 7/8 subject to Mr. Market but it’s too early in the year to change the fcast.

I’ve sold 495 shares in FGEN for a profit of £350.00

I’ve bought for the SNOWBALL 8980 shares in TRIG for 6k.

Current yield 11.1%

Current discount to NAV 35%

Current Income £3,298.00*

Fcast income for the first quarter of 2026 £3,884.00*

* Do not scale to achieve a year end figure.

Here’s how you could invest £300 a month for a £38k+ second income

Looking to make a healthy second income to supplement the State Pension? Royston Wild explains the long-term benefit of buying dividend shares.

Posted by Royston Wild

Published 27 February

CCH

You’re reading a free article with opinions that may differ from The Motley Fool’s Premium Investing Services.

To me, there are few more appealing ideas than earning a large second income without lifting a finger. This is known as passive income, and while it may sound too good to be true, history shows us that it really isn’t.

But how can an investor turn this from a pipe dream into reality? Here’s a step-by-step plan of how you could turn a £300 monthly investment in shares into an extra income of more than £38,000 a year.

Building the pot

Our strategy involves a little legwork at the beginning. You need to set up a tax-efficient investing account, preferably a Stocks and Shares ISA and/or a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). Then comes the task of finding the best shares, trusts, and funds to fill it with, based on your investing goals and tolerance and risk.

However, once it’s up and running, you should be able to sit back and watch your wealth steadily grow over time. History isn’t always a reliable guide to future returns. But the long-term performance of the stock market is unmatched, which gives me enormous confidence as an investor.

Since the mid-20th century, share investing has delivered an average annual return of 8% to 10%.

Passive income plans

The cornerstone of our strategy is to use our ISA or SIPP to buy shares that pay dividends. That passive income could be used for retirement spending later on. But in the meantime, it is reinvested to amplify compound gains and grow the size of the pension pot.

We should look for stocks that could pay healthy dividends not just now but in the future. Companies with market-leading positions and diverse revenue streams can deliver reliable and growing dividends over time. Firms with strong balance sheets and cash generation should also be a priority.

A top dividend stock

Coca-Cola HBC (LSE:CCH) is a great FTSE 100 dividend share that enjoys all of these qualities. In fact, it’s a dividend powerhouse I hold in my own personal SIPP.

Dividends here have risen every year since 2012. That’s when the Coca-Cola bottler first listed on the London stock market. And over the past five years they’ve grown at a breakneck compound annual rate of 13.4%.

The question is, can the company keep delivering impressive dividends? I’m confident it can, even though it faces competitive pressures and the problem of rising costs. The exceptional brand power of its drinks mean they remain in high demand across the economic cycle. They also allow the company to hike prices to grow earnings and cash flows, the perfect conditions for sustained dividend growth.

A £38k+ second income

With a diversified portfolio of shares like Coca-Cola HBC, I think an average annual return of 9% is quite possible. Based on this, a £300 monthly investment would, after 30 years, create an ISA or SIPP worth £549,223.

If this was invested in 7%-yielding dividend shares, it could generate an annual second income of £38,446. Combined with the State Pension, this could provide a very comfortable retirement.

A lesson Buffett has learned first hand with his investment in Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO). The soft drinks giant has used its consistent and steady cash flows to increase dividends every year for 63 years in a row. And consequently, Buffett’s now earning more than a 60% yield on his original investment in the late 1980s.

FTSE 250 stocks with a yield over double the index average

Jon Smith points out a handful of FTSE 250 stocks that have yields above 6.5% that could make them attractive to include in an income portfolio.

Posted by Jon Smith

Published 26 February

TFIF

You’re reading a free article with opinions that may differ from The Motley Fool’s Premium Investing Services.

For income investors who simply want to be passive in nature, buying a FTSE 250 index tracker that distributes dividends is one option. However, I know many who prefer to actively select FTSE 250 stocks. One benefit is the ability to boost the average dividend yield. So is it possible to buy several stocks with a yield double that of the 3.25% index? Absolutely.

Filtering carefully

There are currently 27 stocks that fit the initial filter of having a yield of 6.5% or higher. However, I don’t believe all 27 are worth buying. Some in that mix have a high yield right now because their share prices have tumbled 30% or more over the past year. This has artificially boosted the yield, but I think business troubles could lead to a dividend cut in the near future. Therefore, an investor would likely want to avoid those companies.

Within the sustainable-yield group, the next thought is which sectors do I like? A company might have a good track record for income payments, but if I think the sector is going to underperform in the coming years, it might not be a great pick. In my view, finance, telecoms, and renewable energy are three areas that could do well in the coming years.

After adding in that sector filter, I can now clearly see companies with a generous yield that operate in a space I think will do well. This is the sweet spot. In terms of individual names included in this bucket, Ashmore Group (6.88% yield), Telecom Plus (6.95%) and Greencoat UK Wind (10.98%) could all be considered.

Ideally, an investor could look to include these as part of a larger diversified portfolio. The benefit is that if one company cuts its dividend in the future, the overall negative impact on the portfolio is manageable.

Digging deeper

Another example that could be considered is the TwentyFour Income Fund (LSE:TFIF). The stock is basically flat over the past year, but it boasts a high yield of 9.85%. The fund managers focus on buying asset-backed securities, such as loans for cars, mortgages, and other forms of consumer debt.

These securities pay a high coupon, given the risk of these loans is often higher than that of more traditional debt. However, the fact that the loans are collateralised by assets such as cars and houses means that even if someone defaults, it can help recover some of the loss. It holds 173 investments as of the latest company update, indicating a well-diversified portfolio.

As for dividends, the company pays out almost all of the profit it generates each year to shareholders. That means dividends are largely funded by real cash interest, not capital. That’s a key element in keeping it sustainable going forward. Further, the company has met or exceeded dividend targets every year since its launch in 2013! So, although past performance doesn’t guarantee future returns, the track record does speak for itself.

In terms of risks, the debt and bonds bought depend on consumer and corporate health. So if we get an economic downturn with higher unemployment or housing stress, it could quickly result in higher loan losses.

Even with that concern, I think it’s still a dividend stock with a high yield for investors to consider.