(Linda Stern is a freelance writer. Any opinions in the column are hers. You can follow Linda Stern's financial notes on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lindastern)

WASHINGTON, July 7 (Reuters) - These are scary and depressing times for investors, but especially so for retirees and other folks who need to squeeze regular income from their investments.

Yields on Treasury notes have fallen from 3.99 percent in April to 2.93 percent last week. Money market mutual funds are yielding 0.08 percent. And they aren’t even guaranteed.

Anyone who needs yield and safety is in a bind, but there are a few places to go. Here’s where to squeeze out some comparatively safe and sizable yields now.

-- Dividend-paying stocks. The decline in stock prices over the last two months has produced a corresponding increase in dividend yields. Furthermore, as interest rates have remained at or near historically low levels, they have made dividends look better in comparison. Stolid companies like Bristol Myers Squibb and Clorox Co. are paying out 5.18 percent and 3.56 percent for their investors, according to Dividend.com. (www.dividend.com). On that Website, you can find companies yielding as much as 21 percent, but you don't need me to tell you that's kind of risky.

Look for conservative companies with a long history of increasing their dividend. Remember that banks used to be the best dividend payers until they hit the credit crisis and mostly canceled their payouts. And BP used to be a dividend gem until its infamous oil spill.

-- A checking account. It may seem crazy, but some hungry national credit unions and savings banks are offering higher interest on checking accounts than they are on certificates of deposit. The Aspire Federal Credit Union in Leesburg, Virginia, is paying 3.51 percent, for example. These accounts typically have restrictions; limited check writing, minimum (or maximum) balances and the like. Find the details at CheckingFinder. (www.checkingfinder.com).

-- Online bank CDs. Banks that exist only on the Internet tend to pay higher rates on certificates of deposit than those banks that have to invest in bricks and mortar, according to Bankrate.com. The national average for a one-year CD is 0.69 percent. Net-based banks like Ally and Bank of Internet are paying north of 1.5 percent. Find them at Bankrate.com (www.bankrate.com).

-- Municipal bonds. Localities are paying more than 5 percent (and sometimes a lot more than 5 percent) to borrow money, now that many state and municipal governments are in debt trouble, according to data published on MunicipalBonds.com. And their interest is free of federal (and sometimes state and local) taxes. Their chance of default isn’t huge, but it can happen. (New York City defaulted in 1975 and Cleveland defaulted in 1978.) To minimize your risks, buy munis through a mutual fund that diversifies its holdings instead of buying individual bonds.

-- Corporate bonds. Companies aren’t the safe haven that the U.S. Treasury is, so they have to pay more in interest to attract lenders. You don’t have to move down into junk bond territory to pick up some of that extra money, either. Average yield for 10-year A rated corporate bonds is around 4.49 percent. Again, you can cut your risk by buying these bonds within a diversified mutual fund. Even if one company refuses to pay off its lenders, you’ll have many other company bonds in your portfolio.

-- Treasury ladders. Treasuries aren’t paying much right now, but someday they probably will be. And that will make the Treasuries you’re buying now even more risky than you’d think if you were simply looking at their present lousy yields. But if you spread out your buying with a strategy called “building a ladder,” you can bump up your returns and minimize your risks.

To build a ladder, divide the amount you want to invest into 5 separate pots, and buy individual bonds of varying maturities with each pot. So, buy a 1-year Treasury bill, a 2-year note, a 3-year note, a 4-year note and a 5-year note. As each one matures, use the proceeds to buy a 5-year note. In four years, you’ll have a rolling portfolio of 5-year Treasuries. You’ll lock in longer-term yields, but still have some money coming due every year to buy better-yielding bonds if interest rates rise.