I've recently been doing some reconnaissance work in my ASX stock portfolio, which included assessing which of my investments was now my largest source of passive income. The answer was surprising.
I had a virtual tie between two investments when it came to my largest source of dividends.
If we include the value of franking credits, the clear winner would be Plato Income Maximiser Ltd (ASX: PL8). Plato is a listed investment company (LIC) which I've written about a few times here at the Fool. It holds a portfolio of mature dividend-paying ASX blue chips, and pays large, fully franked dividends every single month. This makes it a wonderful source of passive income.
However, if we don't include franking credits, my largest passive income payer is actually an exchange-traded fund (ETF). Not an ASX ETF, though, this one hails from the United States of America.
It is none other than the Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (NYSE: SCHD).
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Why this US dividend ETF is my top passive income stock
This is a relatively new investment for me, but one I have been enthusiastically buying up over the past year or two. This is already, if you would pardon the pun, paying dividends.
The Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF is a fund that holds around 100 US stocks within its underlying portfolio. These stocks are selected based not only on their current dividend yields, but also on whether their ability to keep paying those dividends is sustainable. It can be thought of as a 'dividend growth ETF'.
These passive income stocks range from Coca-Cola Co, Chevron and Altria to PepsiCo, Texas Instruments and Lockheed Martin. Other prominent holdings include Ford Motor Co, UPS and Kleenex-owner Kimberly-Clark.
I like this dividend-focused ETF because of its impressive track record.
SCHD ETF has increased its annual dividend payments (which are paid out quarterly) every year for 13 years in a row. Those dividend increases have averaged 10.87% per annum over the past five years. Despite this impressive growth, the ETF trades on a bulky 3.7% trailing dividend yield today.
That's all while charging a management fee of 0.06% per annum, which is minuscule by ASX standards.
Given I'm not exactly approaching retirement age, I think this dividend-focused ETF is a great long-term investment. I am hoping, and expecting, to enjoy an even larger stream of passive income from it in the years ahead. Let's see how I go.
