This fairly active approach may help explain a fairly high 0.75 percent expense ratio. The GYLD’s 12 percent-plus market return since inception trails the S&P 500’s 19 percent gain in that period, but comes with lower volatility (thanks to its focus on income-producing investments), and an impressive 5.74 percent 30-day SEC yield.

iShares Morningstar Multi-Asset Income (IYLD)

This fund, which was launched in April 2012, places a greater emphasis on fixed income than its peers: Three of its top four holdings––representing nearly half of the portfolio––are bond funds. Considering that interest rates are already at multi-decade lows and have little room to fall, this bond-centric approach may yield more muted upside.

The IYLD fund has slower asset turnover, which leads to a mid-range 0.60 percent expense ratio. Unlike the GYLD fund noted above, IYLD is more squarely focused on the domestic market with more than 90 percent of its stock and bond holdings based in the U.S.

As is the case with GYLD, IYLD has also delivered 13-month returns in the low teens, trailing the S&P 500. But it offsets that with a 30-day SEC yield of 5.4 percent, which is more than twice the average yield in the S&P 500.

First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index Fund (MDIV)

This fund is based on an underlying index created by Nasdaq which aims to have a 25 percent weighting in dividend-paying stocks; roughly 20 percent each in master limited partnerships, real estate investment trusts and preferred stocks; and the remaining 15 percent invested in the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG). “We really liked this index because it seeks assets that tend to show lower volatility,” says Ryan Issakainen, ETF strategist for First Trust Advisors.

The Nasdaq index is rebalanced quarterly to reduce the emphasis on recent gainers and increase the emphasis on recent losers. Issakainen notes that the fund will avoid any investment that offers a high yield solely because it performed poorly (which might give a temporary boost to the yield).

Since its launch in August 2012, this fund is up about 11 percent, slightly trailing the S&P 500. But it has also delivered a solid 5.5 percent 30-day SEC Yield. The 0.62 percent expense ratio is among the lowest in the peer group.

Guggenheim Multi-Asset Income ETF (CVY)