A growing income

● While bond, income and money market funds can initially produce higher incomes, equity funds grow income faster.

A R100 000 investment in Standard Bank shares in 2004 would have given you R4 000 in income that year. This would have grown to close to R18 000 a year by 2016. A R100 000 investment in a bond paying 8.25% would give you R8 250 in income with no growth.

This is without taking into account the growth in the underlying share price, says Gareth Stobie, MD of ETF provider CoreShares.