As interest rates ease and bond rates soften to follow suit, you may be looking for ways to continue generating steady income in your investment portfolio. To that end, you may want to look at ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, which allow you to own a collection of stocks with a single investment. If you have a reasonably healthy appetite for risk, it pays to focus on high-yield ETFs that reward you with regular income.
Passive income is a steady stream of unearned income that doesn't require active traditional work. Shared ideas for earning passive income include investments such as dividend stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, as well as real estate and additional income-producing side hustles. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), passive income generally includes earnings from rental activity or any trade, business, or investment in which the individual does not materially participate.
Dividend growth stocks have a simple premise. Get low yields now that grow rapidly and generate high income by the time you retire. In exchange for taking low yields now, you typically get higher long-term capital gains than you would with a mature dividend income stock. Luckily, you don't have to pick dividend growth stocks to get exposure to this strategy. These three dividend growth ETFs make it easy.
While Pinehurst came in second in 2024, it landed at No. 1 this year, thanks to a few hard numbers. According to GoBankingRates.com's findings, as of October 2025, almost 40 percent of the population there is 65 and older; the average retirement income before Social Security is $51,767; 78.5 percent of households pay under a third of their income for monthly costs; and the property crime rate and violent crime rates are 2.78 and 0.59 (per 1,000).
Some passive investors have done extraordinarily well by sticking with index funds and not worrying about the individual names that one can pick and choose from. Indeed, portfolio construction isn't for everybody, especially for those who are retiring and seeking to live off their investments. And while it can be as simple as buying and holding an index ETF that mirrors the S&P 500 (or the Nasdaq 100 for younger investors seeking a bit more of a growth jolt),
If you're retired, need a passive income supplement from your investment portfolio, and strive to keep things simple and cost-effective, you should probably check out the list of Vanguard ETFs. In terms of getting the job done well, affordably, and effectively, it's tough to stack up against the ETF legend, even with the ocean of other passive and active ETF products across the market.
Dividend growth investing provides a reliable, inflation-resistant income stream for retirement by leveraging consistent dividend increases and compounding for long-term wealth.