If you want to collect dividend income every month and also want some good diversification, you should consider investing in an exchange-traded fund (ETF). One ETF that pays investors every month is the iShares Canadian Financial Monthly Income ETF (TSX:FIE). The fund focuses on stocks in Canada's financial sector.
It isn't a huge fund as it contains just 26 holdings. But with the ETF, you're getting exposure to some of the top financial stocks in the country, including Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY)(NYSE:RY), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX:TD)(NYSE:TD), and Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO)(NYSE:BMO).
Bank stocks haven't been hot buys this year due to investor concerns related to the banking failures in the U.S. However, these Canadian bank stocks are leaders within the industry and are fairly safe investments overall. The good news for dividend investors is that with bank stock falling in value, that means their yields are up. That gives investors some added incentive to buy the stocks now while their yields are elevated.
Roughly 50% of this ETF is invested in banks, followed by 24% in insurance companies and 6% in financial services. The fund pays a high yield of 7.4% which can provide investors with some excellent recurring income. Year to date, the ETF's total returns (which include dividends) are around 3%. And over the past three years, the total returns are roughly 40%.
For long-term investors, this can make for an excellent ETF to buy and hold for years given that it provides not just great dividend income but lots of stability as well.
