LONDON -- The last five years have been tough for those in retirement. Portfolio valuations have been hammered and annuity rates have plunged. There's no sign of things improving anytime soon, either, as the eurozone and the U.K. economy look set to muddle through at best for some years to come.

A great way of protecting yourself from the downturn, however, is by building your retirement fund with shares of large, well-run companies that should grow their earnings steadily over the coming decades. Over time, such investments ought to result in rising dividends and inflation-beating capital growth.

In this series, I'm tracking down the U.K. large caps that have the potential to beat the FTSE 100 over the long term and support a lower-risk income-generating retirement fund (you can see the companies I've covered so far on this page).

Today, I'm going to take a look at Aviva (LSE: AV.L) (NYSE: AV) , a high-yield favorite with some Fools and the U.K.'s only composite insurer (it sells life insurance and general insurance).

Premium performance?Aviva currently offers an outstandingly high yield of 8.1%, something it has in common with its peer RSA Insurance Group. The reason for this is that both shares have chronically underperformed the FTSE 100 over the last 10 years, despite remaining profitable and paying solid dividends:

Total return

2007

2008

2009

2010

Read more:
Is Aviva the Ultimate Retirement Share?