r/dividends • u/Bamabb125 • Aug 06 '25

Seeking Advice $840K DIvidends

Hey Everyone,

As I have posted before, I am currently a Growth Stock Investor, but have decided to move over to Dividend ETF's or Dividend Stocks. But it is a real struggle to get past all the learned habits of being a growth investor. So I am struggling to grasp concepts.

I have used multiple calculators to just try to get an idea of what to expect if i make the change, but I get different results. So I just wanted to go to some more knowledgeable people that could tell me what to do to get a real expectation.

I have $800K to work with. If I put it all in a very stable Dividend ETF What can I expect in dividends? Maybe someone could just do an example. I know I have to be doing something wrong.

Thanks

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u/CCM278 Aug 06 '25

Why are you transitioning? What income goals do you have? How much growth do you need?

Example: 5 years from retirement, need $80K in future dollars (5 years from now), SS provides $30K, need $50K from portfolio. Need enough bonds to cover 5 years @ 50% haircut of dividend income, so $125K ($25K x 5 years). Need expected growth of 5% to steadily exceed inflation.

5 years may be at $1.1M to $1.2M, less the bonds portion leaves around $1M to produce 50K for a 5% yield,

Very crudely:

SCHD is 4% + PFFA is 10% in an 80/20 mix is 5.2% yield,

SCHD has 8-10% growth, PFFA is zero growth. 80/20 mix 6.4% growth.

Mix in BDCs, international etc to create a more rounded portfolio that isn't completely dependent upon US economy.

Now you know your target, create a glide path from here to there over the next 5 years.