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With around a quarter of all shares in the FTSE 100 yielding 6% or more at the moment, plus many others offering very reliable dividends in the 4% to 6% range, were really spoilt for choice when it comes to seeking income from the UKs top index.

Just as were about to enter 2020, here are three exceptionally high yields that I think are worth buying.

Housing

Brexit or no Brexit, Ive long been a fan of housebuilder shares, and right now I see good buys.

The Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW) share price is still below its highest point of 2015, even though it did get a nice boost from the election result. Fears of a no-deal Brexit have been weighing on housebuilders under the assumption that the economic slump that would almost certainly result would hit demand for new houses.

But the company has enjoyed a stunning five years of earnings growth that have brought strong cash generation, and its now in a phase of returning some of the folding stuff to shareholders. As a result, including special payments, dividends are forecast to yield around 9.5% this year and next.

Looking past Brexit, I think the long-term future for housebuilding in the UK is strong, and the only reason I havent bought Taylor Wimpey shares is that I already own Persimmon (on a 9% yield).

Weed

The Imperial Brands (LSE: IMB) share price is down 40% in two years, as tobacco is increasingly disliked as an investment.

But with earnings having been holding up, what thats done is push the shares P/E multiple down to under seven, and the already high dividend yield up to a forecast 11.2%. Saying that, EPS was static last year, and this year theres no growth on the cards, so the rewards tide might be turning a little.

On top of that, Imperial has backed away from its old policy of lifting its dividend by 10% per year and will tie it to earnings instead, so we could even see the dividend falling in the coming years but theres plenty of room to still accommodate a big yield.

But to me, the pessimism looks seriously overdone and the shares way too low, even considering the risks. I also think the price has been hurt by the markets shunning of anything risky of late, and I can see investors coming back to Imperial.

Insurance

The insurance business might be cyclical, but Ive always like it, and Im happily taking my dividends from Aviva (LSE: AV).

With the share price having dropped 17% over two years, you can do better than me by buying today, with forecasts indicating a 7.4% yield. Aviva seems to be more out of favour than the sector in general, but why?

In the years following the financial crisis, the focus was on Avivas overstretched and weakening balance sheet, and part of the recovery plan was the suspension of the dividend. Back on much sounder financial footing today, Aviva is looking perhaps a bit bloated and lacking direction, and confidence seems to have drifted while the companys direction is not looking so sharp.

But earnings have still been growing, and the forecast dividend is covered 1.9 times by earnings. I see a good dividend buy, with the shares just too cheap.

So, youve resolved that 2020 is the year youll finally get a Stocks & Shares ISA? Or you already have one and youre going to use it better? If youre not already investing regularly, I hope one of those is true for you. But how would I go about starting regular investing of, say, 500 per month?

Cost

Share dealing is inexpensive these days. My broker charges a fixed 12.50 for a trade, so a purchase of 500 is perhaps cost effective, representing a 2.5% charge. But thats too much for me, so Id accumulate at least two months instalments and go for a 1,000 investment. A 1.25% hit (plus the 0.5% stamp duty on purchases) seems more palatable.

Some providers offer cheaper dealing, but perhaps restricted to purchases only on a few nominated days per month they pool the cash from multiple investors to keep the costs down. You might prefer to do it that way, but I do like the flexibility of buying precisely when I choose.

Timing

Even though Im very unlikely to use my full ISA allowance, Id still make sure Id got my April cash instalment transferred before the deadline though a windfall to fill up my 2020/21 ISA allowance is unlikely, you never know.

You dont need to rush to make your purchases, as long as you get the cash in. And rushing an investment decision can be very costly, so even though Id want to get my cash invested and working reasonably promptly, Id always put taking your time to buy the right thing as a higher priority.

Strategy

Thats the mechanics examined, but that leads to the hardest part deciding on your strategy and which shares to buy.

Id stress the need for some degree of diversification for safety with your money spread across multiple sectors, a downturn in one (like banking) should do considerably less damage. But I wouldnt go too far. Many experts recommend an ideal of 10 to 15 stocks, or even 20 or more, but the additional safety from each extra one soon starts to diminish. Id have trouble getting much above 10 companies I want to own anyway, and Id never buy a stock purely for diversification if I wouldnt buy it on its own merits.

Over the course of the year, making six investments spread across different sectors would be sufficient diversification for me to sleep comfortably, so thats how Id go about it. And I can diversify further next year, but only if I find companies in additional sectors that I really do want I think its much harder finding my tenth favourite share than my first or second.

Income

Id go primarily for companies offering decent, well-covered, dividends, mainly in the FTSE 100 (at least for my first year), but if I really liked the look of a smaller company or a growth stock, Id go for it. Though having a core strategy is, I think, essential, Id never stick to one so rigidly that Id deny myself the opportunity to buy something else if it came along.

So, youve resolved that 2020 is the year youll finally get a Stocks & Shares ISA? Or you already have one and youre going to use it better? If youre not already investing regularly, I hope one of those is true for you. But how would I go about starting regular investing of, say, 500 per month?

Cost

Share dealing is inexpensive these days. My broker charges a fixed 12.50 for a trade, so a purchase of 500 is perhaps cost effective, representing a 2.5% charge. But thats too much for me, so Id accumulate at least two months instalments and go for a 1,000 investment. A 1.25% hit (plus the 0.5% stamp duty on purchases) seems more palatable.

Some providers offer cheaper dealing, but perhaps restricted to purchases only on a few nominated days per month they pool the cash from multiple investors to keep the costs down. You might prefer to do it that way, but I do like the flexibility of buying precisely when I choose.

Timing

Even though Im very unlikely to use my full ISA allowance, Id still make sure Id got my April cash instalment transferred before the deadline though a windfall to fill up my 2020/21 ISA allowance is unlikely, you never know.

You dont need to rush to make your purchases, as long as you get the cash in. And rushing an investment decision can be very costly, so even though Id want to get my cash invested and working reasonably promptly, Id always put taking your time to buy the right thing as a higher priority.

Strategy

Thats the mechanics examined, but that leads to the hardest part deciding on your strategy and which shares to buy.

Id stress the need for some degree of diversification for safety with your money spread across multiple sectors, a downturn in one (like banking) should do considerably less damage. But I wouldnt go too far. Many experts recommend an ideal of 10 to 15 stocks, or even 20 or more, but the additional safety from each extra one soon starts to diminish. Id have trouble getting much above 10 companies I want to own anyway, and Id never buy a stock purely for diversification if I wouldnt buy it on its own merits.

Over the course of the year, making six investments spread across different sectors would be sufficient diversification for me to sleep comfortably, so thats how Id go about it. And I can diversify further next year, but only if I find companies in additional sectors that I really do want I think its much harder finding my tenth favourite share than my first or second.

Income

Id go primarily for companies offering decent, well-covered, dividends, mainly in the FTSE 100 (at least for my first year), but if I really liked the look of a smaller company or a growth stock, Id go for it. Though having a core strategy is, I think, essential, Id never stick to one so rigidly that Id deny myself the opportunity to buy something else if it came along.

If there was one share to buy in 2019, it was sports retailer JD Sports (LSE: JD), which got upgraded to the FTSE 100 index from theFTSE 250 mid-year as its share price was on a smooth upward journey.

But it was already clear at the start of the year that this stock was poised to do well. I first wrote about it in January, convinced that it was one FTSE 250 stock worth buying immediately. From the time the article was published to now, the share price has risen by over 80%. The increase is even more impressive when compared to the same time last year, at 146%.

Full marks for confidence

Even now, theres little denying that JD is a really good share to invest in. For me the one standout feature is its confident outlook, when so many other companies have been cautious and even outrightly pessimistic at a time of macroeconomic uncertainty, a term that has been used very widely over the year.

This is great news for the share moving forward. If the company was confident when the world around us was shrouded in questions, imagine what the future holds for it when we are actually moving towards clarity. Its unsurprising that city analysts have a near unanimous buy rating on the stock.

Its a growth stock, make no mistake

It would look a lot like momentum investing to buy a share thats been on the ascent through the year, but I would beg to differ. Momentum investing is relatively short-term in nature, motivated by price increases driven by news flow.

But JDS is essentially a growth stock, which means that it can be held for the long-term with the expectation of reaping solid capital returns. The two kinds of investing styles can overlap, of course. A growth stock can well see a price jump on a positive earnings announcement, for instance. And this is the kind of news that a momentum investor will typically respond to.

With this in mind, I think this is one share that still has a lot of steam in it. If we expect that 2020 will be a good year for the FTSE 100 (and by the looks of things, I am guessing it will be), then theres little for JD to worry about barring any unexpected negative surprises that might show up. But these are typically outlier events, and on average we can expect good times ahead.

The only party spoiler here is the high price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) at 32 times. When I wrote about JDS earlier in the year, it was at 18 times and I thought it was expensive then, and its even more so now.

But I think its prospects are quite bright too. I still think its worth investing in at a staggered manner, accumulating it at every drop in price.

There are many investors who swear by the shiny stuff and they propose you stash a portion of your portfolio in a vehicle that tracks the price of gold. Many consider such a move to add to the diversification of asset classes you own if you also hold things such as shares, bonds, property, and cash.

In fairness, the price of gold has done well over the first 20 years of this millennium and is up by just over 450%, as I write. And it tends to rise in times of economic uncertainty, which is something weve seen loads of over the period.

Gold is a poor substitute for shares

However, betting on the price of gold is a poor substitute for holding the shares of companies backed by good-quality, growing businesses. Companies can generate value while you hold their stock. They can increase their cash inflow, assets, and shareholder dividends, all of which could lead to a rising share price.

Gold, on the other hand, cant do any of that. It just sits there and looks at you, to paraphrase super-investor Warren Buffett. Those tracking the price of gold have enjoyed a good run over the past couple of decades but theres no telling where gold will be 20 years from now it could even go down in price!

Rather than following the gold price directly, Id rather invest in gold mining companies if I believe that the price of gold will rise. Mining companies can add value through their operations and, in many cases, pay me a handsome dividend along the way, which will gradually compensate me for taking the risk of holding the shares in the first place.

Likewise, with other commodities such as silver, platinum, copper, and coal. Instead of betting on commodity prices Id look for shares backed by an underlying company dealing in the stuff.

But commodity mining companies represent just one sector of the market and a highly cyclical one at that. So, with 20k to invest in 2020, Id aim to invest in the most compelling opportunities represented by company shares that I can find, regardless of their sector.

A triangle of factors to search for in stocks

My search would start by looking for strong quality indicators such as high profit margins and returns on capital. A good trading record of revenue, earnings, cash flow, and shareholder dividends, all rising a bit each year would indicate decent operational momentum.

Then, after establishing the quality of the enterprise, Id aim to buy the shares as cheaply as possible and check out the strength of the balance sheet, so the focus would be on valuation. Finally, Id look for a catalyst or a good reason to believe that the business will improve in the months and years ahead.

Indeed, searching for quality, operational momentum, and good value strikes me as a powerful triangle of factors to turbocharge my investments through 2020 and beyond.

Charlie Munger is the vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett the worlds best-known investor.

Munger was a successful investor on his own long before hooking up with Buffett and has also been influential in the building up of Berkshire Hathaway over the years. Hes worth listening to when hes offering advice about investment strategy.

For example, he once said, Risk to us is 1) the risk of permanent loss of capital, or 2) the risk of inadequate return.

I reckon its easy to be so caught up in the ins and outs of strategies to make money from shares that we forget to consider the risks we are taking every time we buy a stock. However, considering risk first, before any other aspect, is perhaps the out-in-the-open secret that could help propel you to meaningful gains from the stock market during 2020.

The risk of permanent capital loss

Share prices bounce around no matter how good the underlying business is or how reasonable the valuation. I reckon its almost impossible to consistently buy stocks without experiencing periods when the share price falls below what you paid.

Over time, if the underlying business is of good quality and growing, and if the valuation is reasonable, the shares will likely rise to reflect improvements in trading. In the end, the volatility in the share price along the way will likely be overridden by a long-term uptrend.

However, if a share price permanently collapses along with the money youve invested, the disadvantage to you could be greater than you might think. The bigger the loss, the bigger deal it becomes.

Consider the maths. If you lose 5% of your money, youll need to make a 5.26% gain on your next investment just to break even. But if you make a 25% loss, youll need to gain just over 33% to break even.

The numbers accelerate against us. For example, if we lose 75% of our invested money, well need to make a gain of 300% to break even! Indeed, permanent capital loss has the potential to set your investing career behind permanently.

The risk of inadequate return

Munger is big on talking about the process of compounding. Its key to investing your way to a fortune, and he doesnt want anything to interrupt it. And small changes in the annualised returns you achieve and compound make big differences to the amount of money you eventually end up with.

Munger sees risk in only compounding small annualised returns. For example, If I compounded a return of, say, 1.4% a year, it wouldnt matter how long I kept doing it because Id probably end up losing some of the spending power of my money. Why? because general inflation tends to compound at a higher rate than that.