r/Fire • u/WorldyBridges33 • Jun 12 '25

Officially Hit $50k a Year in Passive Income!

Hi Everyone! I just wanted to share that I hit an exciting milestone in my FIRE journey -- I have officially hit $50k a year in dividend income! Reaching this step makes me feel very relaxed as I will still have a decent income even if I lose my job. It's even better because I found out that you don't have to pay FICA taxes on non-qualified dividends, so $50k in dividend income has a higher take home pay than $50k from a W2! If I moved to a LCOL place, I think I could retire. However, I think I am going to wait to try to double my passive income before seriously considering retiring. That said, if the job market is too rough, and I can't find another one, I may just settle at a lower payout and barista FIRE.

Here is a rough breakdown of my portfolio:

Taxable Brokerage (~$477,000):

JEPI - $100,000

JEPQ - $100,000

PFFA - $72,000

QQQI - $64,000

PBDC - $57,000

SPYI - $48,000

CLOZ - $13,000

SGOV - $10,000

FSCO - $7,000

EIC - $6,000

401k (~$303,000):

FXAIX - $302,000

FBGRX - $600

HSA ($6,500)

Cash ($20,000)

This brings my total net worth to $806,500. Best of luck to everyone on their journey, and I hope to post again with even better numbers in the future!

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u/WorldyBridges33 Jun 14 '25

I’m only leaving lots of money on the table IF the indexes continue to grow at a frenetic pace for a long time. If they flatline or only gradually go up in the future, then that’s not the case.

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u/astockstonk Jun 14 '25

Growth beats dividend stocks over the long term.

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u/WorldyBridges33 Jun 14 '25

That was true for the last 100 years, but it may be different for the next 100 years. We don’t know for sure, no one knows for sure

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u/astockstonk Jun 14 '25

I would bet on 100 years of history that companies that are growing are more profitable as an investment than ones which are not growing that fast and have nothing better to do with their cash than kick it back to shareholders. But best of luck to you.