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Let’s take a look at high dividend paying ETFs that offer an opportunity for both growth and income. Growth & income exchange-traded funds typically run the gamut from all equity to balanced asset allocation options.

Should you own a growth and income ETF? Would it be better to own a solid growth ETF and solid income ETF? Is there an ETF that offers a bridge between the two?

Maybe. Often. Yes.

I have a growth and income bias toward owning ETFs with specific trajectories rather than simply opting for a blend. Furthermore, when looking at more equity-concentrated growth and income ETFs, my preference is for creative sources of income (dividends and convertibles) as opposed to the pure equity approach. (If I want pure equity, there are many ETFs in today’s market that can provide that.)

I think the right place to be now and over the next 10 years will generally be in equities, not at the exclusion of bonds, but not without being selective and flexible, strategic and tactical about the types of bonds you own, the role they play in your portfolio (as a stock market buffer and/or as a source of reliable income) and the duration that you hold one offering or another.

As such, I favor dividend ETFs; they offer a strategic kind of dividend paying approach to the equity market. Below are four I currently favor.

First Trust Value Line Dividend (FVD) seeks investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Value Line Dividend Index, which is made up of stocks that are given a #1 or #2 in the Value Line Safety Ranking System. Each company in the index must have a market cap of more than $1 billion and make above average dividend payouts.

FVD began trading in August 2003 and has a market value of close to $800 million. It returned 27% in 2013 and has a yield of 2.3%. Its top three sectors are utilities, consumer staples and industrials.

iShares Select Dividend (DVY) seeks investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index, which is made up of 100 of the highest dividend yielding companies from the Dow Jones U.S. Index.

DVY began trading in November 2003 and has a market value of more than $13.3 billion. It returned 29% in 2013 and has a yield of 3.1%. The top three sectors are utilities, consumer defense and industrials.

The top ten holdings are Lockheed Martin, Chevron, Philip Morris International, Entergy, HollyFrontier, McDonald’s, Kimberly-Clark, Ensco, Integrys Energy Group and Clorox.

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WisdomTree Dividend ex-Financials (DTN) has a yield of 2.9% and a total return of 28% in 2013. It seeks investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the WisdomTree Dividend ex-Financials Index, which is made up of mostly large- and mid-cap high-dividend yielding stocks outside the financial sector.

It began trading in June 2006 and has a market value of more than $1.1 billion. The top three sectors are utilities, consumer defensive and energy.

The top ten holdings are CenturyLink, FirstEnergy, Diamond Offshore Drilling, Entergy, AT&T, Altria Group, Kinder Morgan, Reynolds American, PPL and Southern Co.