Dividend investing, for those investors who pick and choose dividend-paying stocks, should be very low cost (essentially just the cost of one's trading fees).
The MER (ongoing management expenses) for such stocks are zero after the initial purchase, meaning as long as one knows which companies to buy, purchasing shares of an exchange traded fund (ETF) could be seen as an imprudent exercise.
That said, for passive investors, or those who wish to spend their time doing other things, buying into a dividend-paying ETF can be an excellent way of gaining the same exposure, albeit with very small management fees paid annually to support the portfolio.
Perhaps one of the best dividend-oriented ETFs out there is the Invesco S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD), due to the fact that this ETF helps to keep risk within a reasonable range by screening out the riskiest dividend names.
The fund does this by removing the most volatile of a list of high-yielding stocks, picking and choosing those which fit the fund's criteria on an automatic basis. Turnover for this fund remains relatively low, and investors pay a modest 0.30% annual fee (higher than most ETFs but lower than most of its peers in this space).
A number of other ETF options are available to investors (one from Vanguard has a lower expense ratio - approximately 0.08%), but few have the volatility screening function served by this ETF, making it one of my favorites for passive investors who want to minimize risk.
Invest wisely, my friends.
