Any good core holding for a Canadian dividend investor should check three key boxes.
First, the income should come primarily from eligible Canadian dividends rather than foreign dividends, bond interest, or other income that gets taxed more heavily. That means focusing on Canadian companies with a strong history of stable, tax-efficient payouts.
Second, it should be cost-effective. You can always build your own stock portfolio through a no-commission broker, but if you want simplicity and diversification, a low-cost exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a better route.
Third, the fund should pay a monthly distribution with an annualized yield of 4% or more. Getting paid regularly improves cash flow planning and lets you reinvest dividends more frequently.
One ETF checks all three boxes: Vanguard FTSE Canadian High Dividend Yield Index ETF (TSX:VDY). Here’s why I like it.
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What is VDY?
VDY tracks the FTSE Canada High Dividend Yield Index, which includes a mix of large-, mid-, and small-cap Canadian companies that have above-average dividend yields. It holds 60 stocks and leans heavily into the kinds of businesses that fuel most Canadian dividend portfolios: banks, insurance companies, pipelines, and energy producers.
Looking at the fundamentals, the typical company in VDY has a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.3, which means you’re not overpaying for growth. Return on equity across the portfolio averages 11.9%, which signals efficient capital use. And the earnings growth rate is 7.6%, decent for large dividend payers and more than enough to support long-term sustainability.
The median market cap is $87.3 billion, so you’re mostly getting exposure to large, blue-chip Canadian companies. These are firms with durable business models, steady cash flows, and a long history of paying dividends through all kinds of market cycles.
VDY also charges a management expense ratio (MER) of 0.22%, which comes out to just $22 annually for every $10,000 invested. That’s much cheaper than dividend mutual funds and even undercuts many other Canadian equity ETFs.
How much does VDY pay?
VDY paid $0.1474 per unit in July 2025. On a 12-month trailing basis, that adds up to a 4.01% yield, based on what was actually paid over the past year. But if the current payout holds steady, the forward-looking yield is 5.25%.
It’s important to understand the difference between those two numbers. The trailing yield is based on real, past distributions. The forward yield assumes that the most recent payout will continue unchanged for the next 12 months. It’s a projection, not a guarantee, but it gives a useful picture of what income you might receive going forward.
Over the past decade, if you had reinvested every dividend and ignored taxes, VDY would have delivered a 10.22% annualized total return. That includes both the income and the price appreciation. For a dividend ETF focused mainly on Canada’s slow-and-steady sectors, that’s a strong result.
If you want an easy, efficient way to build a dividend portfolio that pays you monthly, keeps taxes in check, and costs next to nothing to hold, VDY is about as solid a core as you can get.
