The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that back in 2000, the amount of investment income reported by tax filers was $31.8-billion. The Globe's Rob Carrick writes that since then, the yield on the five-year government of Canada bond has fallen to 1.1 per cent from 6.2 per cent. It is easy to beat today's returns on bonds and GICs through dividend stocks such as BCE, with a yield of 4.8 per cent; Telus, with a yield of 4.4 per cent; Enbridge, with a yield near 4.6 per cent; and, Bank of Nova Scotia, with a yield of 4.1 per cent. Still, the number of tax filers claiming investment income has actually fallen almost 12 per cent since 2000 -- to roughly 7.5 million from about 8.5 million. Canadians pulled back from investing after the financial crisis and stock market crash of 2008-09. The declining number of people with investment income suggests a substantial number of people might be parking money in safe places such as savings accounts. Mr. Carrick warns, however, that dividends are not as secure as interest paid from bonds issued by either governments or corporations. In a recession, a company might suspend or cut dividends to shareholders while maintaining interest payments to bondholders.