For example, in 2006, scientists discovered an ancient variety of rice that produces meager yields but resists flooding.
The flip side: companies with meager yields but plenty of room to boost their payouts.
With paper-thin interest rates and meager yields on the S&P 500, investors see risky startups as their only opportunity for appetizing returns.
Farmers already struggling to raise crops in arid countries from Ethiopia to Chad and Mauritania are likely to face increasing competition for water, meaning they will have less to irrigate their crops, which would reduce already meager yields.
Add earnings growth to the meager dividend yield and you get a total real return not much better than 3.5%.
He gets this figure by combining normal real earnings gains, a meager dividend yield and a steady unraveling of P/E ratios.
Sinkers and callables may offer higher yields than bullets, but the risk of getting your money back at an inopportune time may not be worth the meager additional yield.
Houses tend to trade for 18 to 20 times annual rent, implying that if you bought the home you're renting in these cities, you'd garner a meager investment yield in the 3% to 4% range.
That seemed like a meager return.
