Retirees Keep Going Back to Work Because the Money Ran Short. These 4 ETFs Keep You Off That List

More than half of Americans are worried their retirement savings won’t last. Northwestern Mutual’s 2025 Planning & Progress Study found that 51% believe they are “somewhat or very likely” to outlive their savings. For Gen X, the numbers are sharper still: 56% think it’s likely they’ll outlive their assets, and 54% believe they simply won’t be financially prepared when the time comes.

Fidelity’s Q4 2025 retirement analysis reported that the average 401(k) balance for workers in the same employer plan for five straight years finished 2025 at $304,200, a 16% increase from the year before. That sum can generate meaningful retirement income, but selling shares into a downturn quickly compounds sequence-of-returns risk. DIVO, SPYI, DGRW, and HDV each tackle this problem from a different angle, combining current income, dividend growth, and defensive sector exposure.

DIVO: Get Paid Without Selling Shares

The Amplify CWP Enhanced Dividend Income ETF (NYSEARCA:DIVO) serves as the core income engine in this framework. It holds a concentrated basket of blue-chip dividend payers and layers tactical covered calls on top for monthly cash flow. Assets under management have grown to roughly $7.58 billion, a sharp increase from earlier in the year, and the expense ratio holds at 0.56%. Total returns have impressed: DIVO delivered about 13% year to date and approximately 19.2% over the trailing twelve months.

The tradeoff is real and worth naming upfront. Covered calls cap upside during strong market rallies, and portions of the monthly payout can include return of capital, which quietly lowers your cost basis over time. That’s not a reason to avoid the fund; it’s a reason to understand what you’re buying.

SPYI: Full S&P 500 Exposure With Fatter Monthly Checks

NEOS built the NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF (CBOE:SPYI) to keep investors fully invested in the broad market while an options overlay generates high monthly distributions. The August 2026 distribution came in at $0.54 per share, and the trailing 12-month total has risen to roughly $6.51. Assets have surged to approximately $11.1 billion, reflecting strong demand for options-income strategies in 2026. The expense ratio is 0.68%. Total returns have tracked the broad market reasonably well: roughly 11.4% year to date and 17.8% over one year.

The caveat is structural. During sustained bull runs, SPYI will trail plain S&P 500 index funds because the options strategy caps gains. The fund is built for income, not full rally participation, and investors should weigh that tradeoff against the monthly cash flow benefit.

DGRW: The Paycheck That Grows With Inflation

Over a 25-year retirement, inflation becomes the dominant threat. The CPI reached 332.8 in July 2026, and the 2027 Social Security COLA is tracking around 3.1%. The WisdomTree U.S. Quality Dividend Growth Fund (NASDAQ:DGRW) targets U.S. companies with strong return on equity and the capacity to raise dividends, so the income stream compounds over time. Assets now stand near $16.7 billion. The expense ratio is 0.28%, meaning $997 of every $1,000 invested stays working. Total returns have been solid: approximately 12.9% year to date and 16.6% over one year.

The catch is a lower current yield than the two options-income funds above. DGRW is a bet on rising income that takes years to compound, not an immediate cash-flow engine. For a long retirement, that patience tends to pay off.

HDV: The Defensive Ballast You Can Actually Hold

The iShares Core High Dividend ETF (NYSEARCA:HDV) tracks the Morningstar Dividend Yield Focus Index, screening for financially strong U.S. companies with sustainable high yields. Top positions include Exxon Mobil at 8.42%, Chevron at 6.43%, Johnson & Johnson at 5.68%, AbbVie at 5.44%, and Procter & Gamble at 4.46%. The fund covers energy, healthcare, consumer staples, and utilities: the sectors that tend to hold up when markets fall and consumers keep spending. Assets have grown to roughly $14.9 billion. HDV pays quarterly and has delivered about 23.4% year to date and 23.9% over the past year.

The concentration risk is worth flagging. Exxon and Chevron together represent roughly 14.8% of net assets, so an energy selloff hits HDV harder than a more diversified fund. That’s the direct price of a strict yield screen, and investors in this fund should be comfortable with that tilt.

Four Funds, One System

The point isn’t that retirees need to own all four funds. Each one solves a different piece of the income problem, and the right combination depends on how much current cash flow versus long-term growth a retiree needs.

DIVO and SPYI emphasize current monthly distributions, reducing how much of the portfolio needs to be sold for day-to-day spending. DGRW adds dividend-growth exposure for a retirement that could last three decades or more. HDV provides higher-yielding coverage of mature, defensive companies that tend to generate cash in any economic environment.

None of these eliminate sequence-of-returns risk, and none guarantee a retiree will never run out of money. Taken together, however, they can turn a $304,200 balance into a working income machine, replacing the need to sell shares at the worst possible time.

Editor’s note: This article updated AUM figures for all four ETFs to reflect current data, with DIVO rising to approximately $7.58 billion, SPYI to approximately $11.1 billion, DGRW to approximately $16.7 billion, and HDV to approximately $14.9 billion. The Fidelity Q4 2025 context was expanded to note the 16% year-over-year gain in the five-year continuous saver balance, and Gen X figures from the Northwestern Mutual study were supplemented with the finding that 56% of Gen X-ers believe they are likely to outlive their savings.

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