Risks of owning this fund include its high concentration of international finance stocks, which represent roughly a third of its holdings. In addition, the fund's lifetime performance of 0.9% is well below the average return of U.S.-based benchmark indexes such as the S&P 500 over the same period.

Investors can find plenty of great exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to generate income. Which Vanguard ETFs offer the highest dividend yields? The SEC yield, by the way, is a metric developed by the SEC to help investors compare funds.

Covered call ETFs have become highly popular in the United States because of their high dividends and regular payments. The JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) has accumulated over $37 billion in assets,

The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF ( SCHD 0.57%), JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF ( JEPI 0.43%), and Vanguard Real Estate ETF ( VNQ -0.07%) are three great ETFs for generating passive income. They pay higher-yielding dividends that have grown over the years.

Six top exchange-traded funds (ETFs) make sense for investors looking for dependable, often monthly instead of quarterly, distributions.