By Abby Woodham

The most popular domestic and international dividend exchange-traded funds are differentiated by more than just their regional exposure. The domestic ETFs with the largest share of inflow over the past year are constructed to offer total return by focusing on high-quality dividend payers. As a result, these funds tend to have yields only slightly higher than that of the S&P 500, but they outperform over time on both a total return and risk-adjusted basis. The most popular international dividend ETFs are somewhat riskier and boast dividend yields that tend to be significantly higher than that of the popular benchmark MSCI EAFE Index. These ETFs are more speculative and volatile than the quality dividend strategies that are so popular for U.S. stocks. Investors looking for total return should carefully examine international dividend ETFs to ensure they're not unwittingly taking on more risk than expected.

Top Domestic Dividend ETFs

By: The ETF Professor

There are two certainties in life - death and taxes, and there are two certainties when it comes to income investing. First, dividends are great. Second, steadily rising dividends are even better.

Simple math dictates that, over long-term timeframes, stocks exhibiting positive dividend growth trends stand a good chance of outperforming those that do not ratchet dividends higher.

Perhaps that explains why so many investors look for dividend growth with ETFs. Several marquee payout funds, including the largest, the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG), use length of dividend increase streaks as a primary weighting criteria.

It pays to remember that evaluating a factor such as dividend increase streaks is a backward-looking endeavor and may not be the most efficacious strategy for finding the best dividend ETFs.

"Companies with a long history of dividend growth may not be the key drivers of tomorrow's dividend

"Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful"

--Warren Buffett

A major bubble is currently inflating in investment markets. Yet nobody is talking about it. It's not that the category in question isn't getting any attention. To the contrary, it is being talked about at length nearly every day. But what is missing from the discussion is the fact that all of the signs of a massive bubble are now falling into place.

For the purpose of this article, I have taken a different approach with the analysis. Instead of introducing the investment that is showing signs of a bubble, I will be exploring the evidence first in order to avoid any behavioral biases associated with the specific investment in question.

While the bull market for this investment has been underway for nearly two years, it has only recently entered into a parabolic advance over the