Master limited partnerships (MLP) offer high yields and significant tax advantages, a compelling proposition in the current low-yield environment.

The Alerian MLP Index sports a distribution yield of 5.7 percent, though the capitalization-weighted structure of this benchmark means that the 10 largest MLPs by market capitalization have an outsized effect on this metric. On an equal-weighted basis, the 50 stocks that make up the Alerian MLP Index sport an average yield of more than 7 percent.

By either measure, the Alerian MLP Index offers a superior yield to security classes favored by income seeking investors: electric utilities and real estate investment trusts (REIT). Neither the Bloomberg North American REIT Index, which tracks a group of 126 real estate investment trusts, nor the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Utility Index, which comprises 20 electric utilities, can compete with the MLP benchmark on yield.