Funds pay what their holdings pay
An ETF collects the dividends of the companies it holds and passes them on, usually every quarter or every month. Because it holds many companies, one cut hurts less than it would in a single stock. But a fund’s yield still depends on what it holds and how it is built: dividend-growth funds tend to yield less today and grow faster, while high-yield and option-income funds pay more today and can vary a lot.
Reading the table
- Yield is based on the last 12 months of distributions, which can include one-off payments, especially for bond and option-income funds.
- Growth (5 yr) is the change in the typical distribution. For bond funds it moves with interest rates, not company profits.
- “Raised in a row” is not shown for funds, because fund distributions rise and fall with the portfolio.
Compare two funds in the compare tool or read dividend ETFs vs. index funds.