Global X SuperDividend US ETF

DIV

Market cap $624M

If you want to protect your portfolio and generate passive income, consider yielding exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Not only do ETFs offer a good deal of diversification, but they can also help lower your overall risk compared to investing in an average security.

Sometimes, it's as simple as picking the right ETFs and hanging onto them for many years (or more than a decade) and letting the distributions keep flowing into one's pocket.

Dividend-oriented strategies aren't just for traditional value investors anymore. Many investors want to capture artificial intelligence (AI) growth while still generating reliable income.

A smart beta exchange traded fund, the Global X SuperDividend U.S. ETF (DIV) debuted on 03/11/2013, and offers broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Value category of the market.

Global X SuperDividend U.S. ETF offers a high 6.7% yield but suffers from poor risk-adjusted returns and declining share prices. DIV's sector allocation favors energy, real estate, and utilities, but these sectors face macroeconomic headwinds and concentration risk. Despite diversification across 50 stocks, DIV's low-quality holdings and high expense ratio undermine its defensive income strategy.

Unfortunately, you won't earn high yields with today's savings accounts. So, if it's dependability you're after, with yield to boot, you can't go wrong with a safe ETF.

Some of its 126 holdings include Progressive Corp.

Dividend ETFs offer cash flow and diversified holdings. You don't have to stay up late at night researching dividend stocks to get respectable returns and extra income.

Dividend investors on the search for yield and relative stability in this market have plenty of work to do to identify the specific stocks that can outperform the broader market.