How to Find the 12 Best Dividend ETFs

The best investors become specialists in an area of investment interest such as dividend ETFs. They absorb as much information as they can in that one area. Gaining more knowledge increases the chance of making more money, even if you already have an advisor. These specialists realize that every investment area has multiple layers of complexity that can take time to understand.

This article is a high-level overview of how to select the best dividend ETFs for your portfolio. If you want even more details, download our dividend ETF free report .

Below is the best process for finding the highest dividend ETF portfolio within the confines of low volatility.

Screening for the Best High Dividend ETFs

Here are some of the broad details of the screening process you should consider:

1. Start with all available ETFs.
2. Screen for dividend ETFs: Find all ETFs that specialize in dividend paying companies and/or pay at least a 3% dividend.
3. Rank all of these dividend ETFs by internal cost from lowest to highest and throw out the bottom 50% of the most expensive. Numerous studies show that cost is one of the most important factors of future performance.
4. Then eliminate all dividend ETF funds that do not have a five-year track record. You need to be able to see how they have been replicating the index, and buying a new fund that closes down is not good investing.
5. Next, eliminate all dividend ETFs that have more volatility than the Russell 3000 Index. Dividend ETF portfolios are for income, and a stable price helps reduce the chance of losing more money on price than you are making on the dividend.

Important Concepts in the Screening Process for Finding the Best Dividend ETFs

• Do not search for highest dividend ETFs until you have completed this screening process. Once this process is done then you have a great group of low cost, low volatility dividend ETFs with at least a five-year track record. Searching for the best high dividend ETF fund based solely on dividend will lead you in the wrong direction. You will mostly find a dividend ETF that loses more on the price than it makes on the dividend.
• Ignore how much money the ETF has made in the past We only want to know that it has been in existence for at least five years so that we can examine the liquidity and portfolio drift issues. Past performance does not equal future results. Timing when to buy an ETF and when to sell does not work. No one knows where any one investment is going. The vast majority of investors believe market timing works, which is great for the brokerage firms. We think if the majority of high cost mutual funds with all their highly educated portfolio managers, unbelievable research and superior technology cannot beat their comparable indexes, then we will leave trying to time the market to someone else.

Next Steps to Create Your Dividend ETF Portfolio

1. Place all of the dividend ETFs that survived the above screen into efficient frontier software.
2. Use the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to replace the historical rates of return in your efficient frontier analysis. Using historical returns produces over-concentrated portfolios that worked great in the past. Unless you have a time machine, you want portfolios that work great in the future. Using CAPM to replace historical returns is the first step in making a well balanced portfolio.
3. Do not ignore rising dividend ETF funds just because they pay a low dividend. Often these funds are great to combine with a higher dividend payer such as a utility ETF. The combination provides greater price stability with a good dividend payout.
4. Look for some international dividend ETFs to round out your portfolio. The world is a big place, and we never know where money will go next. Having the proper amount of international exposure actually lowers the overall price volatility of your portfolio.

Included in this Months Dividend Income Report

If you do not have the time or software to create the above Dividend ETF funnel to select the best dividend ETFs, or if you do not know how to make them into a balance portfolio, then see this months Dividend Income Report :

Announcement Now You Can Follow My Personal Portfolios

I am now publishing my personal holdings and transactions in this Remonsy Dividend ETF portfolio that is included in my Dividend Income Report. This allows subscribers to follow along with my changes as they will receive immediate notification on exactly what changes to make for keeping their portfolios in line with mine. It will allow my subscribers to take advantage of my 38 years of investing expertise.

Remonsy Dividend ETF Portfolio  — This easy-to-copy portfolio presented above is included with all recommended changes and rebalancing information, including my personal live portfolio.

How to Build Your Retirement Income with the Dividend Income Builder Program  – In this Remonsy 5 Factor education section, I will show you the best way to build a solid dividend income stream, using my portfolio, to support your overall Retirement Income program. I will show you the best way to handle the dividends, how and when to add money, and how to rebalance the portfolio.

Dividend ETF Spotlights  – In this months report, I provide statistical analysis for: iShares Global Utilities ETF (JXI), iShares Select Dividend ETF (DVY), and iShares U.S. Utilities ETF (IDU)

Dividend ETF Favorites List  – The 12 best dividend ETFs to use to build your own portfolio.

Increase your retirement income!  Download our FREE Report, Dividend Income Builder Program PLUS MY Exclusive Dividend ETF Portfolio To Help You Retire Successfully now!

Remonsy ETF Network  exists to enhance your life-long investing success by providing independent and authoritative investment advice you can trust.  Landmark academic financial studies, proprietary in-depth research and over a quarter century of real world financial advisory experience during good times and bad provide the foundation for our time-tested, proven investing guidance. And most important, we work only for you: We dont hold or manage your money. We dont earn trading commissions. And we dont take money from investment companies.