The return of volatility to the U.S. stock market in October serves as a timely reminder that bull markets don't last forever. Every investor must rebalance occasionally to shield portfolios from downside risk. But rather than just shifting your allocations in U.S. stocks and bonds, investors may want to go outside the box ... and into some high-yield alternative strategies.

However, American investors face a stock market that's already richly valued, and a bond market that produces only modest yields and returns.

Fortunately, other options are available for investors who want to capture big dividends and hold risk to a minimum. For instance, preferred stocks generally provide lower volatility than common stocks and yield close to 6% right now. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) provide diversification and yields often between 3% and 5%. Still other pockets of the market are specifically designed to counter market volatility.

If you're looking to hide out somewhere other than traditional American stock and bond strategies, here are 12 alternatives that tend to deliver higher yields, extra-stable performance or both.

iShares U.S. Preferred Stock ETF

With more than $15 billion of assets under management, iShares U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (PFF, $36.13) is the most popular of the preferred stock ETFs.

Preferred shares are known for their bond-like payments, as well as yields that are typically much richer than most bonds. PFF is passively managed and designed to mirror the performance), Barclays (), Citigroup () and Sempra Energy ().