7 Best Monthly Dividend ETFs to Buy Now

By U.S. News & World Report
May 26, 2026 | 8:00 PM

Regular income is crucial for retirees. Most exchange-traded funds pay shareholder dividends quarterly, but a small number pay monthly.

“When I think about ETFs that generate monthly income, my first question is: What is this fund? What is it investing in, and how is it generating income?” says Diana Richey, certified financial planner, author of “The Loving Truth About Money” and host of the Diana Richey Podcast.

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She points out that some ETFs simply use dividend-paying common stocks, while others buy preferred shares. Various strategies can add complexity or can determine the yield an investor receives.

“Another important consideration is: Are the distributions sustainable? As investors, we tend to assume that, when the fund pays us a monthly dividend, the fund managers are simply passing through dividends and income that the fund has earned,” Richey says.

Some funds use a managed distribution policy, which allows the manager to draw from principal to keep monthly payments steady.

When that happens, it’s worth understanding why, because a return of capital isn’t automatically a red flag. But if a fund is consistently paying out more than it earns, the net asset value can erode, and that’s a problem for long-term income investors.

Here are seven ETFs using various methodologies that generate monthly income:

ETF	30-day SEC yield
iShares Preferred & Income Securities ETF (ticker: PFF)	6.3%
JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI)	9.8%
JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPQ)	12.7%
Amplify CWP Enhanced Dividend Income ETF (DIVO)	1.6%
Global X SuperDividend ETF (SDIV)	8.7%
WisdomTree U.S. LargeCap Dividend ETF (DLN)	1.8%
Global X SuperDividend U.S. ETF (DIV)	6.5%

iShares Preferred & Income Securities ETF (PFF)

This ETF tracks an index of U.S. preferred stocks, which trade like stocks but pay income like bonds.

Its 30-day SEC yield is 6.3%. Preferreds often pay high yields because of the lower price appreciation, and because they have lower standing than bonds in the event of a corporate bankruptcy.

Also contributing to PFF’s high yield is a tilt toward securities at the lower end of investment grade and even some below investment grade.

Top sector holdings are financial institutions, industrials and utilities.

JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI)

This ETF generates income through a combination of selling options and investing in U.S. large-cap stocks. It aims to limit volatility relative to the U.S. large-cap market, as well as pay a monthly income.

The strategy depends heavily on options income, not just stock dividends. It generates cash by selling covered-call options, and the amount of income depends partly on market volatility.

The options income can help cushion market losses, and volatile markets often produce higher income payments.

Its 30-day SEC yield is 9.8%.

JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPQ)

This ETF also uses a covered-call strategy and aims to deliver a lower-beta, lower-volatility return compared to the Nasdaq-100 index.

“In terms of reliable returns, there’s no better option than JEPQ, which regularly provides yields that beat 10% and is an attractive rate for investors looking to maximize their potential for returns,” says Ivan Marchena, senior economist at Just2Trade, a trading platform for stocks, futures, foreign exchange and bonds.

“The fund focuses on tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 stocks, meaning that you’re adding stocks with higher economic moats that are less likely to be exposed to the same high levels of risk that some more speculative funds could take on,” he adds.

JEPQ boasts a 30-day SEC yield of 12.7%.

Amplify CWP Enhanced Dividend Income ETF (DIVO)

This is another ETF that owns dividend-paying stocks and produces additional income by writing covered calls on those stocks.

As with other covered-call strategies, DIVO uses the dividend and option income to lower share price volatility during broad market downturns.

The largest holdings are RTX Corp. (RTX), American Express Co. (AXP) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT). The portfolio consists of 31 holdings and has an expense ratio of 0.56%. The fund screens for characteristics including market cap, company management track record, earnings, cash flow and return on equity. The current 30-day SEC yield is 1.6%.

Global X SuperDividend ETF (SDIV)

This ETF invests in 100 of the highest dividend-paying stocks from around the world. Its 30-day SEC yield is 8.7% and it boasts a 14-year track record of paying monthly dividends.

Top country representations are the U.S., Brazil, Britain and Norway.

To qualify for fund selection, a stock must have a minimum market capitalization of $500 million and yield between 6% and 20% at the time it’s added. Existing companies must maintain a yield of at least 3%. Closed-end funds, partnerships, trusts and business development companies are excluded.

This fund isn’t designed for conservative investors: It deliberately screens for the highest yielders globally, which by definition pulls in companies whose elevated yields often reflect investor skepticism about whether those dividends are sustainable.

WisdomTree U.S. LargeCap Dividend ETF (DLN)

For investors looking for something less risky, the DLN ETF may fit the bill. It yields 1.8% by tracking an index of large-cap domestic stocks.

The index tracks the 300 largest U.S. dividend-paying companies by size, but instead of weighting them equally or by market cap, it gives more weight to companies expected to pay out larger dividends in the coming year.

That said, at any given time, the highest weights might not necessarily be the companies paying the highest dividends, as the underlying index rebalances just one time a year. Currently, DLN’s three largest holdings are Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), Apple Inc. (AAPL) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM). The fund’s expense ratio is 0.28%. That’s lower than funds that include non-U.S. companies, which carry additional trading costs.

Global X SuperDividend U.S. ETF (DIV)

As the name suggests, this fund holds higher-yielding stocks that trade on U.S. exchanges. This includes a number of American depositary receipts. While the focus on these stocks may reduce risk relative to funds holding mostly overseas-listed companies, the mandate to screen for higher yields adds risk.

However, the fund screens for stocks with low betas relative to the S&P 500, as part of its objective to create low-volatility returns. That can help mitigate the inherent risk of many higher-yielding stocks.

To qualify for the fund’s underlying index, a company must have a dividend yield between 1% and 20%, a beta below 0.85 and a history of consistent payments over the past two years. Companies must also meet minimum size and liquidity requirements. You won’t find the usual familiar dividend names here, as its top three holdings are Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. (TEN), CBL & Associates Properties Inc. (CBL) and Millicom International Cellular SA (TIGO).

DIV has a 0.45% expense ratio and a 6.5% 30-day SEC yield.

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7 Best Monthly Dividend ETFs to Buy Now originally appeared on usnews.com

Update 05/27/26: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.

Asia’s next great gourmet destination? Inside Indonesia’s fine-dining revolution

By CNN
August 11, 2026 | 5:44 AM

More than 120 years ago, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, National Geographic magazine’s first female writer, photographer and board member, chronicled her travels through colonial Indonesia in her book “Java: The Garden of the East.”She was particularly fascinated by a feast known as the rijsttafel (rice table), a multi-dish banquet that was served in the grand Hotel de Nederlanden in Batavia, as Jakarta was known then.Scidmore vividly recalled a “conglomerate mountain” of food, including bits of fish, duck, chicken, beef, omelettes and onions piled alongside steaks, salads, curries, chutneys, spices and tropical fruits.The sumptuous spread had something to satisfy everyone amongst the 100 or so guests that filled the grand dining hall — even the “squeamish folk, unseasoned tourists and well-starched Britons with a small sense of humor.”Like Scidmore, most early Western documentation of Indonesia’s flavors focused on the opulent colonial feast. Little else was known about the diverse and rich flavors found across the enormous archipelago, in spite of it being home to the fabled Spice Islands, which sparked a 16th- and 17th-century “spice rush” for cloves, nutmeg and mace by Portuguese, Dutch and British traders.In more recent decades, the world has become better acquainted with some of the beloved humble foods found in Indonesian homes and warungs (street-side eateries), with satay, nasi goreng and beef rendang among the most familiar dishes beloved by travelers.But now, there’s a rising number of contemporary chefs who are elevating the national cuisine on the global stage by reimagining its famous spices into fine-dining experiences, while sharing the sophisticated stories of Indonesian flavor through a different lens.Made up of thousands of islands dotted across two oceans, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic country. It would be an understatement to say the country’s cuisine is wildly varied.As a result, “the existing understanding of Indonesian food culture is very shallow,” says William Wongso, an Indonesian culinary expert and author.Boasting an enviable array of regional ingredients and flavors, the country’s chefs have been working to educate international gourmets — and even locals — about the beauty of Indonesian cuisine.And Jakarta, its capital city, has become a breeding ground for the movement. Wongso compares it to the dining scenes in New York or Shanghai, which draw talent from all over their respective countries. “Everybody wants to come here to make a thing,” he says. “So people from different regions bring flavors and food cultures.”Some open humble warungs and serve their home cooking. A few look beyond recipes and focus on elements that make Indonesian cuisine unique for a wider audience, reinventing the whole experience.A modern, fine-dining blueprintEnter August, which opened in 2021 inside a gleaming skyscraper in Jakarta’s central business district.The duo behind the concept, Jakartan Hans Christian and Budi Cahyadi from the Indonesian island of Lombok, were definitely not the first people to promote Indonesian flavors — Christian emphasizes figures like Wongso, for example, who have been championing gastro-diplomacy abroad for decades.But August has spearheaded a new format and standard for the country’s fine-dining restaurants: a modern, Indonesia-inspired tasting menu operating at a world-class level of culinary execution and service.The industry has already noticed. August became one of the few Indonesian restaurants to achieve international recognition, placing 42nd on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026 and earning accolades at The Best Chef Awards.“When I came back to Jakarta, you either had classic French fine dining or very casual bistros, mostly run by expat chefs,” says Christian, who sharpened his skills in Malaysia and the United States before returning to Jakarta in 2016.“There were no locally grown chefs doing their own thing with their own roots or interpretations. For me, August is about the pride of telling our own story … and a responsibility to not only embrace our roots, but also relearn them.”Cahyadi, with more than a decade of hospitality experience in a luxury hotel, agrees. He currently helms the front of house in August’s dining room.“In Jakarta, you either had to pick a place where the food was good but the service was lousy, or a casual place where service was bad but food was decent. When I met Hans, I knew it was time for a place where food is excellent and hospitality is delivered at the exact same time,” he says.In 2019, the two started August as a private kitchen concept before turning it into the current restaurant in 2021.Inside August’s intimate dining room — warmly lit with dark wood accents and a bright, open stainless-steel kitchen at the end of the dining room — the restaurant’s two tasting menus blend familiar Indonesian flavor profiles into completely unexpected forms.Their daikon dish is inspired by the format of Japanese agedashi tofu — silken tofu coated in starch, deep-fried until golden brown and traditionally dressed in dashi sauce.August’s version is served with a cuko sauce — a sweet and sour reduction made with tamarind and palm sugar featuring a tangy umami taste.It reminds locals of eating pempek, the Indonesian fishcake. A drizzle of andaliman pepper oil, Indonesia’s version of Sichuan peppercorns, gives the dish a unique, numbing spicy kick.Another highlight features Japanese Kimendai fish cooked by pouring hot oil over the scales until it crisps up while keeping the flesh tender. It sits in a kuah garang asem (yellow sour curry sauce) from the Central Java region.The sourness comes from a native green fruit called belimbing wuluh (or bilimbi), which looks like an oblong tomato but tastes extremely acidic, while ginger flowers provide a touch of freshness.The curry base is made from a yellow bumbu — made of aromatics such as turmeric and lemongrass. Often compared with France’s mother sauces (a group of five master sauces, such as Béchamel and Hollandaise, that are said to be the foundation of classical French cooking), Indonesian bumbu are spiced sauces that take hours to caramelize and form the base of many different dishes.Christian says that August has slowly evolved over the years, with more Indonesian flavors being incorporated into his menu as the team gains confidence and the demand grows.“In the beginning, our menu leaned more towards classic European because that was my formal training. When more international guests came, they expected more Indonesian flavor,” says Christian.Now, with half of their guests coming from overseas, the team tries to find the balance carefully without being intimidating.“Finding that balance was crucial — doing modern Indonesian cooking in a way that’s exciting for locals without just putting expensive ingredients in a traditional dish. We want to start from a product or a cooking method and create something new out of that idea,” says Christian.The founders admit that Jakarta has few fine dining concepts compared to fellow Southeast Asian cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Manila and Bangkok.“We knew we were a few years behind, but we are in progress to catch up. Over the years, the interest from people who want to learn and taste the flavor of Indonesia is growing,” says Christian. “For the past five to six years, we’ve been on a mission to prove people wrong.”It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t just about the menus, but the operation.They were the first restaurant to impose a reservation fee for diners in Jakarta. It also took a few years to educate their diners to be punctual for the tasting menu so the table could start the menu together – an often tricky feat in Jakarta traffic.But August’s success helped set new operational benchmarks for the city, proving that local diners were ready to enjoy high-end tasting menus.In the years since, Jakarta’s fine-dining community has expanded rapidly.ESA, opened in 2023, proudly offers a menu called New Jakarta Cuisine. Kindling, which opened the following year, blends Indonesian-Chinese dishes with French technique. Selera, newly opened this year in the Keraton at the Plaza hotel, emphasizes the nation’s culinary heritage with local ingredients.Outside the capital, things are changing, too, particularly in the country’s tourist hotspots. Bali, for example, has evolved to offer more than just fine resort dining and Western restaurants catering to visitors.Locavore NXT, helmed by Dutch-Indonesian duo Eelke Plasmeijer and Ray Adriansyah, serves a tasting menu that highlights local ingredients. The independent concept also has a farm, laboratory and store.Meanwhile, young, local and independent concepts are slowly increasing elsewhere in the country.Overlooking the historical Prambanan Temple and Mount Merapi, Suwatu in Yogyakarta, the royal cultural heart of Java, is an upscale hillside restaurant with a menu packed with local dishes cooked by local villagers.In Bandung, both MMBS (Mari Merangkai Bunga Seroja) and Plataran Bandung serve local Sundanese cuisine, with hyper-seasonal tasting menus featuring a creative twist.Not just about the price tagAt the same time, classic Indonesian restaurants are reexamining the stories they would like to tell.For a long time, the 1945 Restaurant inside the Fairmont Jakarta has been regarded as the city’s only high-end Indonesian restaurant in a five-star hotel.Taking over as the chef de cuisine this year, Yopi Tumeru has been determined to inject fresh ideas into the 11-year-old establishment — and he was inspired by the traditional rijsttafel concept.His vision of the legendary feast isn’t only a sumptuous buffet but an educational exploration of Indonesian cuisine.“For many years, Indonesian food was presented either as home cooking, street food or part of a hotel buffet… Our Rijsttafel was designed as a culinary journey through the archipelago. We preserve the generous and communal character of the traditional experience while refining the portions, presentation and sequence,” Tumeru says.The menu includes dishes such as wagyu beef rendang, duck leg confit with sambal madura, tuna collar rica-rica (rahang tuna), tempe nachos and es teler cheesecake — all created to shine new light onto old dishes.For chefs like Tumeru, presenting Indonesian cuisine in a haute gastronomic format isn’t just about slapping on higher price tags and using expensive ingredients.They are proudly showcasing the often undervalued Indonesian cuisine — from the ingredients, the knowledge and the labor to the cultural heritage.“Rendang, for example, is not simply beef cooked in coconut milk. It requires patience, careful control of the heat, and an understanding of how the spices develop over time,” says Tumeru, who feels chefs have a responsibility to help guests appreciate that complexity.Despite giving Indonesian cuisine an upscale makeover, all of the chefs insist their roots and hearts remain with the humble, family-run warung. They encourage diners to ask for street-food tips, which might otherwise feel intimidating without a local guide.The movement isn’t about replacing affordable neighborhood joints. It’s about broadening how the world sees Indonesian food, using fine dining as a welcoming gateway into their country’s vast culinary heritage.“There is still a mindset that Indonesian food cannot be expensive — that is not true,” says Wongso.“These high-end restaurants, if they’re doing it right, they’re quite helpful in changing people’s mindsets. Indonesian food cannot be cheap. It takes immense labor and skill. A single sauce or spice paste takes hours of balancing and preparation. You can Google many things, but you can’t Google taste.”The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

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