How and Where to Research Bond ETFs

Investors want bonds and bond exchange traded funds (ETFs) for the dividends, but how can you figure out what funds yield and what dividends they’ve paid out? Easy.

As you near retirement, bonds become more and more central to your portfolio. They’re hardly “sexy” investments, but they’re incredibly useful and they provide stability and lower risk. (Reasons you should consider bond ETFs.)  But where do you go to find out what bond funds are yielding and what dividends have been paid?

As an example, look at the Vanguard Total Bond Market (NYSEArca: BND). What is it yielding? On any of the sites below, you can find information on yield, dividends and more.

• You can find this information on the quote page of ETF Trends.

• If you go to an information page such as moneyusatoday and type in BND in the quote  box, you’ll find an entire section dedicated to the dividends paid by the ETF, labeled dividends.

• Dividends on Yahoo! Finance can be found by clicking on “historical prices” for any fund. (Bonds are the foundation to a solid ETF portfolio).