Five ETFs Paying Surprisingly High Dividends

By now, you probably know about the advantages of using exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) to hop on and off market sector swings. But you might be surprised to learn than many ETFs pay significant dividend yields (next 12-month’s dividends divided by the price you pay for the shares). For instance, more than 100 ETFs are paying at least 3% yields and more than 20 are paying 5% or higher. In fact, four are paying at least 8%. Here’s a rundown on the top five yielding exchange-traded-funds. iShares Mortgage Plus (REM) 9.6% YieldThe iShares NAREIT Mortgage Plus Capped Index Fund tracks an index that, in theory, measures the performance of the residential and commercial real estate, mortgage finance, and savings associations sectors of the U.S. stock market. However, when I checked, five of the fund’s top ten holdings were mortgage REITs (a special type of real estate investment trust that invests in... Read more