Easy passive income investments perfect for your retirement years

Passive income and more effective risk management are the name of the game when it comes to closing out your retirement years. No doubt growth can take a back seat to some of the less hectic and safe dividend stocks. However, just because you have a preference for passive income plays doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to the high-growth stocks that have helped your retirement swell over the years and decades.

Higher returns don’t necessarily have to come at the cost of long-term growth and appreciation. Although higher dividend commitments take away some of the cash flow that could have been put to work for future growth engines, there are some firms with economic moats wide enough that they can pay juicy (and growing) dividends, such as and financing a steady single-digit growth profile.

Easy Passive Income Options to Dive into the Retirement Waters

Just because you’re retired or close to retirement doesn’t mean you can’t participate in the so-called AI-driven industrial revolution. Undoubtedly, there are risks inherent in betting on AI stock at these levels. While some of the froth and hype has died down since late summer, it’s important to realize that you’ll have to endure rampant volatility if you want to have a chance at the next level of growth that AI trading offers. Additionally, your retirement could span a number of decades, especially if you choose to ease into a semi-retirement lifestyle in your 40s or 50s.

Let’s say you are a semi-retiree who is on the younger side. In that case, it might make sense to add a little growth to your portfolio, provided you understand the risks you’ll be taking on overweight securities in more traditional retirement portfolios (think fixed income investments and stocks of defensive dividends with lower beta).

In this piece, we’ll check out a dividend stock and a high-yield exchange-traded fund (ETF) that are easy additions to any passive income-focused portfolio built for the golden years.

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF: Set it, then forget it.

ETF Vanguard High Dividend Yield (NYSEARCA:VYM) is an easier way for retirees to bet on a wide range of solid dividend-paying companies. With a cheap 0.06% expense ratio and one of the most compelling holding combinations (chip giant Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), a name I’ve previously referred to as a top buy-the-dip AI stock, is actually the largest holding at the moment) covering multiple industries, VYM is pretty much all that you need if you are looking for passive income and a good combination of growth.

At the time of writing, the VYM ETF is yielding 2.8%, which, while not massive, is pretty impressive given the capital gains potential of the basket of stocks. Over the past 10 years, VYM is up 85%, much less than the S&P 500. That said, with less market risk and volatility (0.77 beta), look for the ETF to hold up on particularly bad days bad for the markets.

Qualcomm: An AI stock with a growing 2% dividend yield.

At current levels, Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) is looking to offer an intriguing value proposition while in the midst of a bear market. At its worst, QCOM shares fell nearly 32% in value between June and August. Shares have recovered modestly, but are still 26% off their peak.

The semiconductor firm has often overlooked and reduced exposure to AI. And while the AI ​​trade could make or break based on a single firm’s reported quarterly results and guidance, QCOM stock looks fairly modestly valued as far as AI companies go.

At the time of writing, the stock trades at 21.7 times price-to-earnings (P/E) or 14.8 times forward. That’s absurdly cheap for a company that’s playing a big role in pushing “edge AI” (on-device AI) into the mainstream. As the company doubles down on its Snapdragon X Elite chip to make the most of the AI ​​PC boom while exploring growth from mixed reality hardware, Qualcomm has plenty of options for pole vaulters in the new year.

Just last week, the firm launched its new octa-core PC processorSnapdragon X Plus, which could give sick Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is getting a serious run for its money in the CPU market.

Despite its impressive AI-driven growth drivers, Qualcomm has a solid dividend yield of 2.1%, which will also grow at an above-average rate if Qualcomm’s new chips are successful in the lucrative AI market of peak.

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