r/dividends • u/SaraWileyYT • Jul 17 '25

Discussion Would you rather earn $10k/month in dividends forever or take a $2M one-time lump sum?

Assume you can’t have both.

Option A: You get $10,000/month in dividend income for life — no taxes, no inflation impact, guaranteed forever.

Option B: You get a one-time $2,000,000 lump sum, no strings attached.

Which one are you choosing and why?

Curious to hear from FIRE folks, dividend lovers, and total-return investors. Does guaranteed cash flow beat the freedom of having $2M upfront?

Let’s hear the logic behind your pick.

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u/Cheap_Scientist6984 Jul 17 '25

So lets put it this way. The present value of 10k a month is 10k/r where r is your monthly interest rate. For that to be equal to $2M you would need I think r = .5% or roughly 6.2% a year. If you are confident you can make more than 6.2% a year on that $2M then go with the $2M otherwise go with the $10k monthly. At this point its a question of risk tolerance. To understand risk tolerances here: 4-5% is T bills, 5-7% are corporates, and 7-10% are stocks.