high return investments

Frankly, thanks to the U.S. Federal Reserve, it's surprising we have not seen a savers revolt in the United States.

We can debate how effective the Fed's Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) has been, but one thing is unquestionable: Those who rely on income from investments that are cautious and conservative have been brutally punished.

Traditional safe income havens like Federally Insured Certificates of Deposit and Treasury bills offer a minuscule return. It is not possible to retire and live off the interest earned on your savings unless you have several millions stashed away. Even then the return from conservative savings options will not provide a very luxurious retirement.

And according to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke this condition will exist until at least 2015.

That's why in a ZIRP environment, savers must become investors.

To earn a decent return you have had to consider investments like stocks, bonds and real estate that require a deeper knowledge and risk tolerance than savings-oriented accounts. People with little or no investment experience or knowledge have turned to the stock market to earn the return necessary to fund their lifestyle and living expenses.

That idea might be frightening to life-long savers, but it doesn't have to be. Here's a strategy for finding high-yield investments in the Fed's ZIRP world.