Income-seeking investors can shoot to score 8% annual income from assets that are generally regarded as less risky than ordinary shares. Better still, some of these funds have increased their distributions by more than inflation in recent years.

Several examples of high and rising income can be found in the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) ‘Debt, Loans and Bonds’ sector but it is important to understand that the underlying assets are not risk-free. That’s why professional fund management, which investment trusts automatically provide, can prove particularly valuable.