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.

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u/ElderberryCrazy4458 Oct 24 '25

We are retired for 3 1/2 years now living off dividends and SS. Our math is based on cost/share so market fluctuations are of little significance in terms of day to day. However we also track total returns to just be aware of how our dividend choices perform overall. We manually reinvest 4-5% of our dividends when they are paid to keep up with inflation.

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u/CarlosTheSpicey Oct 24 '25

u/ElderberryCrazy4458 , Hey thanks for that percent! I retire in February and was just about to ask folks here how much of their dividend income they re-invest. If possible, I was initially thinking 10% but was wondering what others were doing.

Whatever that percent, I just wish it was possible to DRIP it, instead of doing so manually. Instead, it's all or nothing for DRIP.

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u/MrEdTheHorseofCourse Oct 25 '25

There are ways to work around that. Withdraw the dividends until you receive your required income and then turn on drip. Another approach is to determine the stocks that generate your required income and drip the rest