‘I used to be a crypto guy but now I only invest for dividends’

Savers face watching their money rapidly lose its buying power. No rates on offer come close to matching inflation, which hit a 40-year high of 10.1pc last month.

The investment bank Goldman Sachs has forecast that it could hit 22pc in 2023. While savings rates have slowly increased, income paid by stocks has soared.

Across the global market, dividends are forecast to hit an all time high this year of $1.56 trillion (£1.35 trillion), according to the investment manager Janus Henderson.

Rob Morgan, of the wealth manager Charles Stanley, emphasised that dividends played an important role in the total return that investors could hope to achieve in the stock market.

“They may be out of fashion, but reinvested dividends contribute a substantial return over the long term,” he said. “Over the past 10 years, half of the return from the FTSE 100 has been powered by its dividends.”

While London’s benchmark index is home to some of the largest dividend payers in the world, Mr Morgan added that it was important to make sure that the income portion of a portfolio was well diversified across many different countries.

He pointed to the M&G Global Dividend fund, which invests in a wide range of companies from Microsoft to the tobacco giant Imperial Brands. It has returned investors 55pc over the past five years and offered a yield of 2.2pc.

For more cost-conscious investors, dividend-focused exchange-traded funds, which feature heavily in Mr Bree’s portfolio, offer a cheaper way to invest in income-paying stocks.

Edward Allen, of the investment manager Tyndall, used the passive SPDR UK Dividend Aristocrats and SPDR US Dividend Aristocrats funds as building blocks for a model income-focused portfolio.

Since the beginning of 2021, the portfolio would have delivered a return of 25pc, beating the global stock market by seven percentage points.

Mr Allen explained: “These funds invest only in stocks that maintain and grow their dividends over 15 years or more. Their focus on high-quality companies and, crucially, the lack of economically sensitive and flighty technology stocks, has won the hearts of many investors.”