While getting to retirement age can be a blessing and a curse, the reality of counting on the U.S. government to provide for your needs is not the best idea. The full retirement age is 66 if you were born from 1943 to 1954.

Read here for 5 dividend stocks that offer a rare combination of high yields, wide moats, strong balance sheets, and growing payouts for a lifetime of passive income.

Investing in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is one of the easiest ways to start generating passive income. You don't have to manage a portfolio of stocks. Instead, you can buy a few diversified funds and just sit back and watch the income passively flow into your portfolio.

You can buy a bunch of stocks that pay quarterly dividends and set it up in such a way that you get monthly dividends. For instance, you can buy one stock that pays in January, another stock that pays in February,