That's exactly what has happened with Nvidia. Over the past year, Nvidia stock is up by 166% as the surge in AI investment has been a massive tailwind to the business. On the other hand, even including its massive dividend yield, the YieldMax NVDA Option Income Strategy ETF is up by about 105%. That's 61 percentage points of underperformance.

Dividend investing is always top of mind for many investors, but the process of building a portfolio can be complicated. It's critical to find high-yielding stocks that have safe dividends and, ideally,

This is the most popular ETF dedicated to the sector and has really been on a tear lately; VNQ is up 18% since June 1, roughly tripling the S&P 500 returns in the same period, with some smaller real estate investment trusts,

The telecom giant's high yield appears sustainable, which should attract investors as interest rates come down.

These five dividend stocks have among the largest payouts, perfect for passive income generation, and offer the best current entry points.