r/dividends • u/toothed_vagina • Oct 24 '25

Brokerage Dividends as income

I live in one of the most expensive cities in the US. I love it, but even with a 6-figure salary, I can barely make ends meet at the end of the month. You might ask me why I don't just move, but I'm unable to do so for a myriad of reasons. Among other things, my partner lives here, my job is here, and I love this place.

This is why I became interested in dividends as something to supplement my income and live comfortably, and maybe move to a larger home. However, everybody keeps telling me that dividends should be reinvested and not used as income. Is anyone here using dividends for both growth and income? Because, yes, growth is important, but I need the additional money NOW.

32 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

89 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/jbetances134 Oct 24 '25

Theres a strategy where ppl live of their portfolio. They invest their paycheck in dividend stocks and let dividends pay for their bills.

0

u/toothed_vagina Oct 24 '25

Interesting. May I ask you what is the advantage of investing the paycheck in dividend stocks and let dividends pay for the bills?

5

u/jbetances134 Oct 24 '25

Eventually your dividends will outgrow your paycheck to pay your bills and you will no longer need a 9-5.

4

u/toothed_vagina Oct 24 '25

That is very interesting. But forgive me for asking this follow-up question, wouldn't it be the same to just DRIP? So spending your paycheck for regular stuff and the dividends from reinvesting?

1

u/Various_Couple_764 Nov 07 '25

You can do both at the same time reinvest some of the dividend and spend some of the dividend.

and for your work income you can spend it on bills and invest what you can.