Some country even tax every transaction, but not dividend! (example: Switzerland, 0.15% tax on every transaction, no tax in dividend).
I have a doubt about what you say concerning Switzerland. Dividends are considered as revenue and are taxed as such. Moreover, 1/3 is immediately taken as "impôts anticipés".
well you have to consider it in the light of his question: he wanted to build an income stream. Depending on how he is taxed and his transaction costs, he must decide what is best. Every european country is different.
In regards to your observation: I didn't mention the income tax on dividend because (and thi is the case only for switzerland) you pay the exact same amount on dividend of ETF in both case that is a distributing or accumulating funds. So even if you create your own "dividend" by selling shares of an accumulating funds (that doesn't distribute) you still have to pay income taxes on the "internal"dividend. You will find the exact amount here:
https://www.ictax.admin.ch/extern/de.htmlthat's why I didn't use it as a criterion, since it doesn't matter what fund you own, you will always pay income tax on dividends, even if it is reinvested automatically.
What i was saying is that on dividend you don't pay the 0.15% swiss federal duty, while if you sell shares you must pay it.
And all funds not domiciled in switzerland (for instance the vanguard funds in Ireland) do not have the "impôts anticipés".
Only swiss funds and stocks (also ETF with the ISIN starting with CH..........) are subjected to the anticipated withdrawal.
But this is only for switzerland.
In respond to the OP: looks at the taxation on your country, look at different stockbroker, choose a cheap one and starts buying etf. Depending on your IPS (investment Policy statement) decide the allocation and just buy ETF. It is actually quite easy.
For the income streams, the taxation and the transaction costs are decisive.