And it’s a great day to be alive I know the sun’s still shining when I close my eyes There’s some hard times in the neighborhood But why can’t every day be just this good? — Travis Tritt, “It’s A Great Day to Be Alive” Some days in a life are just more important than

This article will focus on the top-performing U.S. domestic dividend equity fund for the first half of 2015, following our recent series on top international dividend exchange-traded funds (ETFs), DFE, DLS and IHDG. The best returns among U.S. small-cap dividend-paying funds during the first half of 2015 came from the WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Dividend Growth

Today’s column features the third-best performer among international dividend funds for the first half of 2015: WisdomTree International Hedged Dividend Growth Fund (IHDG). IHDG seeks to provide exposure to developed market companies outside the United States or Canada while also limiting fluctuations between the value of the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies. By hedging in

The appeal of a dividend-oriented strategy is clear and established. A dividend payment not only puts cash in investors’ hands, but it also is a sign of strength if a company can afford to distribute cash to its shareholders. This second point ideally also is accompanied by share-price appreciation to give investors two ways to

We round out our review of the top three best-performing U.S. equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of 2015’s first half with the bronze medalist. This fund’s strategy, which differs from the approaches of the two funds that beat it, shows that exceptional returns did not accrue in just one way. However, all three of these strong-performing

Although success has been difficult to find in the market for the first half of 2015, some exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have eked out impressive gains. Following the last ETF Talk about the #1 U.S. equity performer in that time frame, this week will highlight the silver medalist: the Guggenheim S&P SmallCap 600 Pure Growth ETF

The first half of 2015 has seen markets land relatively flat, with minimal upside to be found in broad market indices. However, just because the U.S. market isn’t offering easy money doesn’t mean it isn’t possible for individual investors to win with the right picks. The top-performing exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. equity market

A business development company (BDC) is one that helps relatively small companies to grow and to develop, primarily by providing loans and capital investments. Investors can buy shares in public BDCs to gain exposure to the small private companies they finance, as well as the BDCs themselves. Today’s featured fund, BDC Income ETF (BIZD), pools

Conventional wisdom explains that it is vitally important for any investor to diversify his or her holdings. This is intended to minimize risk from movements or events that disproportionately hurt one type of investment. A fund that offers a way to gain the benefits of diversification is Arrow Dow Jones Global Yield ETF (GYLD). This

Dividend-bearing investments can be found in a variety of places, and there are many choices. Of course, it seemed inevitable to me that an exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider sooner or later would pool together the best worldwide dividend-paying companies into a single fund. Sure enough, one fund company did. The result is Global X SuperDividend