Searching for yield in this low-rate environment? You won't find it in Treasury bills (0.25% per year) or one-year CDs (1% per year), but Motley Fool Income Investor analyst James Early says you will find it in master limited partnerships -- pipeline companies paying you fat checks thanks to their tax-free status.

Unlike price-sensitive oil companies (think: ExxonMobil), MLPs are just middlemen transporting oil and gas -- meaning they're less exposed to the commodity markets' wiggles and jiggles. James flags three MLPs as being your pipelines to profits: Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) -- which sports ExxonMobil as a shipping client, incidentally -- Plains All-American (NYSE: PAA), and Kinder Morgan Partners (NYSE: KMP).

With these MLPs each yielding more than 6%, your payout prowl may well be over. Watch the video here: