We know that even hardcore, self-directed investors sometimes use mutual funds for a portion of their portfolios, so we suggest some top funds that follow our Global Income Edge  theme for high-dividend-paying stocks. That theme is that investors can generate higher dividends with relative safety by investing in firms that tap both developed and developing countries.

Two of the funds that fit the bill are WisdomTree Global Equity Income (symbol: DEW), an exchange-traded fund with a 12-month trailing yield of 4.14%, and Henderson Global Equity Income (HFQAX), with a 12-month yield of 5.83%.

These funds each represent a very different approach to seeking global dividends. The ETF follows an index of WisdomTree’s own devising, and it has low fees and no load. The Henderson fund is actively managed, follows a strict value strategy, and has higher expenses and a load—though your brokerage or investment adviser may waive the fee.

WisdomTree is arguably the leading mutual fund company when it comes to dividend investing. In fact, many of its funds are dividend-centric, as the company builds the indexes its funds follow around measures that are based on dividends paid.

The particular index this ETF is based on screens for medium-to-large companies (at least $2 billion in market capitalization) from around the world that sit in the top 30% of dividend-yielding firms.

Yield is key, of course, but expenses, risk and capital appreciation are three other factors that fund investors should consider when selecting long-term, equity-income holdings.

In the risk category, DEW is about as volatile as the average world stock fund, according to Morningstar. You won’t have to worry about this fund putting a big slug of money in volatile emerging markets, as its filter effectively holds money invested in that category to less than 20% of assets. About 18% of assets are invested in U.S. companies, and 80% are in foreign companies.

A little portfolio flavor: The United Kingdom is the country second to the U.S. in DEW’s holdings, at 13%—this makes total sense, as the U.K. has the top “country yield” (see our Investing Without Borders article from a couple of weeks ago, “Go Global But Don’t Go Crazy”). DEW’s largest holding is China Mobile, and its top two sectors are financials and telecom.

On the expense front, the fund is a good deal. It charges 0.58% annually, which is less than half the average charge of actively-managed international funds but slightly more than the average ETF’s charge.

Don’t expect this fund’s price appreciation to blow away the average of worldwide stocks; after all, this ETF is all about yield. But its performance over time isn’t bad. Its average annualized yield for five years is 9.8%, which is about a percentage point less than the average yield of world stock funds. That spread is about two percentage points less for three-year and five-year annualized returns.

Value Hunters

The WisdomTree ETF doesn’t care about a company’s dividend history or its ability to continue to pay dividends, but Henderson Global Equity Income does.

Also, it’s an opportunistic fund: It will sell one holding on which it just collected a dividend and switch to another with a dividend due. Given that foreign companies usually pay dividends only once or twice a year, and most of the fund’s assets are in foreign companies, that’s a good strategy. The Henderson fund pays dividends monthly, and the WisdomTree ETF pays them quarterly.

Financials also lead the Henderson fund’s largest holdings, at 19% of assets, followed by industrials (14%) and energy (13%). U.K. companies make up this fund’s top holdings, at 42% of assets, with developed European countries at 18% and North America at 14%.

Fund managers Job Curtis and Alex Crooke, who are based in the U.K., look for bargain-priced companies, explaining the fund’s relatively low volatility. It is 24% less volatile than the average foreign value fund, its Morningstar category. It has about 85% of assets in foreign companies.

Expense-wise, it charges 1.22% annually, which is about 0.20% less than the average foreign fund. But again, it has a load: 5.75%, which means you’ll be giving up the first year of dividends just by buying shares. However, some brokerage firms, such as TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab, waive the load.

You can expect that this fund’s price will beat its foreign value benchmark in most years. It has a 10% average annualized yield for the last five years, or 2.2 percentage points better than the benchmark (and about two percentage points better for the last three years). It has lagged by 1.7% in the last year.