No longer is an investor’s search for yield confined to stocks and U.S. government bonds. The exchange traded products industry has helped drive the changing landscape of income investing by offering a growing number of income-generating instruments, many of which have unique themes and concepts.
Income investors can now use ETFs to tap a plethora of high-yielding asset classes, including business development companies and preferred stocks. [Preferred Stock ETFs and Rising Rates]
ETF sponsors have also taken the concept of investing for income several steps further, by introducing products that offer investors exposure to themes they may not have thought about in the past. Multi-asset ETFs, or those ETFs that hold asset classes such as junk bonds, REITs and MLPs, are a good example. [Some High-Yield Dividend ETFs Off the Beaten Path]
Bank loans, covered calls and those funds that emphasize investing in low-debt, float-shrinking companies also stand among the ETFs investors can use to bolster a portfolio’s income.
In this slideshow, we examine 10 ETFs that are plays on the aforementioned income themes. The ETFs do not appear in order of preference or performance. Rather, the aim of this list is to highlight 10 ETFs, including some newer products, that offer unique ways of generating (and boosting) income.