Building a portfolio that can replace your paycheck and keep growing is the central puzzle of retirement. Dividend ETFs have become the favorite tool for solving it because one ticker delivers an instant basket of companies that have already proven they can return cash year in, year out.
Unlike the old choice between a growth stock that might double and a bond that barely beats inflation, today’s dividend ETFs offer both the cash and exposure to some of the hottest indexes.
However, building a retirement-ready portfolio by just looking at the yield is a bad idea. The sensible way of building such a portfolio is by balancing growth, stability, and income. Ideally, you’d want to target a mid-single-digit yield dividend ETF as your core holding, with some satellite ETFs to boost growth and income.
The following five cover just that.
Amplify CWP Enhanced Dividend Income ETF (DIVO)
Amplify CWP Enhanced Dividend Income ETF (NYSEARCA:DIVO) is perhaps the best core dividend holding you can have at the moment. The structure is very clever and has allowed it to outperform even the Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (NYSEARCA:SCHD). And if that’s not enough, DIVO yields more and pays monthly.
This ETF owns ~20-25 stocks of large-cap U.S. companies that have a history of raising their dividends. These companies are reliable, and their earnings growth often outpaces the dividend growth.
The top five holdings are Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), American Express (NYSE:AXP), RTX (NYSE:RTX), and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), with each having ~5% to 5.5% weighting. If you haven’t noticed already, each of those companies is in a distinct sector and is considered a blue chip.
But you may be wondering how DIVO gets you a 4.51% dividend yield, which is also paid monthly. None of those stocks pays big dividends.
The secret recipe is that the ETF writes covered call options on a fraction of its holdings. It’s mild enough not to noticeably impact upside, but still efficacious when it comes to boosting dividends.
You can still choose SCHD if you are are in your early 60s and you want slightly more growth over monthly dividends. DIVO is great for all retirees.
The expense ratio is 0.56%, or $56 per $10,000.
iShares Core Dividend ETF (DIVB)
iShares Core Dividend ETF (BATS:DIVB) is a passive ETF that tracks the Morningstar US Dividend and Buyback Index.
DIVB is designed for investors who want broad U.S. equity exposure with an emphasis on companies that systematically return cash (dividends + buybacks) rather than simply chasing the highest dividend yield.
This is quite unique, since buybacks are rarely taken into account, even though the impact they have can sometimes be even better than receiving dividends if you are in it for the long run. This is because buybacks are more tax-friendly.
DIVB is up 9.3% year-to-date and comes with a 2.59% yield on top of that. The expense ratio is 0.05%, or $5 per 10,000.
Capital Group Dividend Growers ETF (CGDG)
Capital Group Dividend Growers ETF (NYSEARCA:CGDG) is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund that buys large and mid-cap companies whose management teams have a recent track record of increasing cash dividends.
Around 104 holdings make up the portfolio. Companies that grow their dividends aggressively are generally performing well, too.
On that note, it isn’t a surprise that CGDG stock is up 16.14% year-to-date. This is before the 2.6% dividend yield.
The expense ratio is 0.47%, or $47 per $10,000.
Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF (LVHI)
Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF (BATS:LVHI) has a self-explanatory name. It tracks the QS International Low Volatility High Dividend Hedged Index. It owns 186 stocks in developed markets outside the U.S. and uses currency forwards so the portfolio’s cash flows are hedged back to the U.S. dollar.
The fund looks for the highest-yielding stocks that also have low price and earnings volatility, then caps any single name at 2.5% and any country at 15%. It also caps sectors at 25% and regions at 50%.
And in the end, the ETF does exactly what it says. The volatility has been exceptionally low over the past few years. In addition, LVHI has outperformed the market, up 13.15% year-to-date. That too, without the dividends.
The trailing 12-month yield is 5.07%. The expense ratio is 0.40%, or $40 per $10,000.
NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF (QQQI)
Options-driven dividend ETFs have been hugely popular in 2025. They can continue delivering significant gains for the coming years as the market continues its “irrational exuberance”. Hence, it’s a good idea not to miss out and get in on the action… even a dinky stake could boost your returns.
NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF (NASDAQ:QQQI) fund that delivers the same large-cap growth exposure as the Nasdaq-100 Index while overlaying a flexible call-option program to generate high, tax-advantaged monthly distributions. You forgo some upside and take the downside risk head-on, and you get a 13.8% dividend yield. Dividends are distributed monthly.
QQQI’s yield turns $87,000 into $1,000 in monthly income. Your usual ETF with a 3% yield needs 400k to do the same. You’re going to get paid as long as the Nasdaq keeps rallying.
It’s a deal worth taking since Wall Street seems set on keeping the tech rally going. At some point, the Nasdaq rally will end. It could be next year or next decade. More likely than not, you will have squeezed more money out of QQQI by then.
The expense ratio is 0.68%, or $68 per $10,000.
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