Dividend exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are one of the best ways for investors to generate years of consistent, passive income. Each ETF invests in hundreds of dividend stocks while targeting a particular theme or corner of the market. In that way, they're terrific products for people to simply buy and hold forever.
Choosing between the roughly 180 dividend equity ETFs available can be daunting. The fact that they all require purchasing only a single share to get started makes them easily accessible. Even a $1,000 initial investment can start you down the road to long-term wealth creation.
Here are 10 ETFs that I like that cover all the major dividend investing strategies.
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Total Dividend ETFs
- WisdomTree U.S. Total Dividend ETF (DTD +0.26%)
Sometimes the easiest way to invest in dividend stocks is not overthinking it and just buying the whole basket.
DTD invests in dividend-paying companies across the total U.S. equity market and weights them by anticipated dollar dividends paid over the next 12 months. It's a good way of overweighting companies that do more to reward shareholders and maintain broad diversification in the process.
NYSEMKT: DTD
Key Data Points
Dividend Growth ETFs
These are your core ETFs that invest in companies that have been paying and growing their dividends for years.
VIG simply targets companies that have raised their dividend for at least 10 straight years. Its methodology produces a portfolio that's heavier in tech stocks than most dividend ETFs. That's helped make it an above-average performer within the dividend ETF universe.
DGRO requires a more modest five-year track record of dividend growth and adds in a low payout ratio qualification to improve quality. Overall, the screens are comparatively lax, but it's a strong portfolio of dividend stocks.
Dividend Quality ETFs
Looking for solid balance sheet fundamentals is one of the best ways to ensure long-term dividend growth sustainability.
SCHD looks not only at things like cash flows and return on equity (ROE), but also dividend growth history and yield. It's one of the few dividend ETFs that consider dividend growth, quality, and yield within its single strategy, helping it to identify the best of the best.
QDF screens for profitability, cash flows, and management efficiency. After that, it optimizes a process that aims to maximize the overall quality score, attain a higher dividend yield, and achieve a similar beta relative to the parent index.
NYSEMKT: SCHD
Key Data Points
High Dividend Yield ETFs
- Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM 0.07%)
- State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF (SPYD +0.16%)
- Fidelity High Dividend ETF (FDVV 0.04%)
- State Street SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY +0.34%)
- Capital Group Dividend Value ETF (CGDV +0.16%)
If you want to try to improve your income stream, high-yield ETFs are probably needed, but you need to make sure they're not the excessively risky ones.
SPYD is a pure yield play and targets the 80 highest-yielding components of the S&P 500. In isolation, it's a riskier strategy, but the equal weighting and the focus on just the largest companies help mitigate some of that risk.
SDY targets high yielders among the group of stocks with a 20-plus-year dividend growth record, giving it high exposure to both dividend growth and income. VYM simply includes the top half of dividend yields from a broad U.S. stock universe. FDVV mostly considers just yield, but adds in minor consideration for quality metrics as well.
NYSEMKT: VYM
Key Data Points
CGDV is the least pure dividend ETF of the bunch. It optimizes the final portfolio to produce a yield higher than that of the S&P 500, but gives itself wide latitude to achieve it. It has a high concentration in tech stocks and can actually invest in non-dividend payers, too. That's helped make it one of the best-performing dividend ETFs of the past few years.
Overall, all of these dividend ETFs make great building blocks to put around a core equity foundation. All can work for creating a long-lasting, durable income stream.