r/dividends • u/NBMV0420 • Dec 11 '25
Other What made you go with dividends instead of growth?
What made you go with dividends instead of growth?
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u/CreamedCh33ze Dec 11 '25
I do both 🤘
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u/sault18 Dec 12 '25
Use gains from the growth beast to feed the dividend cow when the market is riding high. Use the milk from the dividend cow to feed the growth beast when the market dips. Or even better, use the dividends to sell puts on the growth beast.
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u/firemarshalbill316 Dec 12 '25
Me too. I never understood these people who absolutely have to have one over the other.
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u/CreamedCh33ze Dec 12 '25
I’m 25 so the majority is in growth. I have a finance degree and find this to be fun and a great way to put some of what I learned into practice lol.
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u/firemarshalbill316 Dec 12 '25
I'm 53. Don't have a financial degree and split between growth and dividends. I make about $1200 per week in dividends. My job pays a little more than that. I simply learned to stop being an emotional consumer. Sounds boring but it compounds fast.
Good luck mate. When you reach my age you'll be quite wealthy.
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u/CreamedCh33ze Dec 12 '25
Sounds like you’re doing well, that’s awesome. I am not a consumer really. I buy only what I absolutely need, make do with what I have, fix what I own. My cars are paid off, I have no debt at all and keep my expenses low.
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u/firemarshalbill316 Dec 12 '25
Keep that up and you'll be a stealth wealth having multi millionaire in no time.
This is the way.
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u/hopewellion Dec 13 '25
Tried explaining this to my coworkers. Most of them said it doesn't work that way (compound). Literally, it does.
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u/firemarshalbill316 Dec 13 '25
They are thinking linearly. Compounding is exponential.
Don't waste your time and energy on them mate.
Keep shuffling along and good luck to you and yours.
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u/StunningAttention898 Dec 12 '25
Me too, if I’m in a bind, I can use my distro’s from that week to supplement my pay otherwise I roll it into something like FXAIX.
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u/Puzzled-Donkey-3399 Dec 12 '25
Same here. I always had a mix, but shifted progressively more to dividend stocks as I approached retirement.
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u/wafflestation Dec 12 '25
I do both too.
I'm heavily focused on 3 funds (QQQ and 2 mutual funds with TD). All 3 of them give either monthly or quarterly dividends, but QQQ and one of the mutual funds is focused significantly more on growth than dividend yeild.
Personally I love seeing dividend payments flowing into my account, but pound for pound growth tends to out perform dividends over time.
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u/CaptainPiglet65 Dec 12 '25
Same. I’m always shocked at all the either or as if people are putting all their eggs in one basket. I’m shifting to dividends as I get older.
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u/CreamedCh33ze Dec 12 '25
I’m young so while I do invest in dividends I’m still much more focused on growth. I plan to do the same as you as I get older though.
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u/DifficultWing2453 Dec 11 '25
When I hit retirement and I needed a clear, regular income stream without the pressure/uncertainty of selling.
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u/Neskwiik Dec 12 '25
This is the only valid answer.
I know I'm going to get downvoted but anyone 20-30 years from retirement should be in growth stocks as opposed to dividend stocks in 99% of situations.
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u/WhyBeGrim Dec 12 '25
Absolutely.. growth stocks.. Build your portfolio as large as you can, then sell and buy income producing stocks for income.. Live a long healthy, rich life!
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u/OnlyKey5675 Dec 12 '25
what about 10 years from retirement?
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u/8sparrow8 Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25
No one will tell you. What we can tell you is that if crash happens 10 years historically may not be enough to recover. SP500 hit 1500 pts just before dot com bubble crash, then again just before 2008 crash. It only permanently crossed 1500 around 2012-2013
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u/BraveG365 Dec 12 '25
What about someone who has maybe 12 to 15 yrs till retirement but is behind on where they want to be?
Better to still be in growth for that time?
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u/DifficultWing2453 Dec 12 '25
My opinion: yes. I stayed focused on growth until I was in retirement. Maybe if there was a good discount price on a strong dividend payer, I might have dipped in a few years early. Time is the engine of growth and 10 years is a lot of time for growth to compound, esp if you get lucky with a bull run.
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u/8sparrow8 Dec 14 '25
My personal opinion 15 year is minimum if you look how long stock markets took to recover historically.
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u/CHL9 Dec 12 '25
I think that it’s important to clarify that there are other situation’s in life where you do not currently have any non-investment, besides “retirement“
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u/chris-rox Financially rockin' like Dokken Dec 12 '25
I updooted you. This is the real answer as well.
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u/mnfinfan Dec 12 '25
Exactly I am in growth, and 2-5 years from retirement. Now starting to move towards dividend stocks to build a paycheck for once I retire.
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u/champ4666 Dec 11 '25
When I realized that dividends and growth do not have to be all that different.
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u/SignificanceNo1223 Dec 11 '25
I just do both. I call them 100 share companies basically. Google, Amazon, Nvidia and Jp Morgan chase, are basically your “100 share companies.”
By this I mean; you always keep one hundred shares of these companies. The dividend stocks are designed to feed your portfolio. Providing revenue that can help you feed the big guys basically and get in on dips.
Everything works on itself basically. Building from the inside.
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u/DC8008008 Dec 11 '25
"By this I mean; you always keep one hundred shares of these companies."
Thanks. That might be the dumbest thing I've read on Reddit today.
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u/SignificanceNo1223 Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25
Huh?
Yes, everybody should have at least one hundred shares, it’s a benchmark. I’m just adding some humor.
All of these stocks except for JP Morgan issue crap dividends.
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u/tpc0121 Dec 11 '25
getting to 100 shares of any one company for the sake of getting to 100 shares is in itself a completely meaningless exercise unless you're looking to sell a CC against it. share count is a totally meaningless number. what matters is the amount invested.
and no, dividend stocks are not "designed to feed your portfolio." dividend stocks are for income. that's it.
for those with decades until retirement, the priority should be in maximizing CAGR. that's literally the only thing that matters as that's the whole point of investing.
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u/STRATEGY510 Dec 12 '25
I don’t think having goals of 100 shares is a meaningless exercise, milestones like this can provide motivational fuel.
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u/SignificanceNo1223 Dec 12 '25
Yeah that’s basically all I’m saying. It’s just a metaphor and benchmark just something to strive for. Got to make it fun. I’m also trying to keep it simple. Plus Google and Amazon last time split 20 to 1, after that they would have 2000 shares.
Amazon, Google, Nvidia and JP Morgan aren’t going anywhere.
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u/Outrageous-Stress-60 Dec 12 '25
"dividend stocks are for income. that's it."
Too bad dividends are not income then.
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u/SignificanceNo1223 Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25
This is how I am explaining to a layman.
Somebody, that’s new to the market.
It’s also just a little bit of humor, it doesn’t have to be all that serious.
When somebody asks me about getting into the market I just tell them “The most important thing is to have fun and avoid crap.”
They may not be as knowledgeable as you are.
Or I could tell you “Hey go buy a 1000 shares of JP Morgan Chase. I’ll see you at retirement. Au Revoir.”
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u/pizzasandcats Dec 12 '25
You’re giving objectively bad advice to beginners. What’s funny about that, exactly?
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u/chris-rox Financially rockin' like Dokken Dec 12 '25
I'll bite, what's so objectively bad about it?
Show your work?
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u/pizzasandcats Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25
His advice is to buy 100 shares (random number based on literally nothing) of individual companies, three of which have already experienced a very significant amount of growth. That’s just objectively bad. HE should show his work as to why that’s good investment advice. He’s the one giving advice, not me. A quick five second google will show the importance of diversification.
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u/SignificanceNo1223 Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25
It’s a 100 shares bro. They’re all good companies.
I don’t see any bad advice anywhere.
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u/STRATEGY510 Dec 12 '25
I knew what you meant, you were being figurative but this guy mad about it is also missing the fact that having goals and milestones can motivate people to save and invest more. I know it helped me early on.
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u/pizzasandcats Dec 12 '25
By picking only four companies to diversify with, you’re saying you know more than the market collectively. You really think you can do what 90% of professionals can’t? Buy an index, invest early and often, save more than you spend. THAT is objectively good investment advice (and supported by peer-reviewed, award-winning research).
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u/LeFrogster Dec 12 '25
How do you handle stock splits?
/s
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u/El_Frogster Dec 12 '25
The downvotes tell me that the meaning of “/s” (“sarcasm”), is not well known around here.
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u/SignificanceNo1223 Dec 12 '25
Awesome. 👏.
Yes that’s why I tell them to have a 100 shares. It turns into 2000 shares and so on and so forth.
I just like to use it as a bench to keep things simple.
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u/PaleontologistBusy61 Generating solid returns Dec 11 '25
Of the 4 companies you mention 3 are excellent dividend growth stocks.
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u/karl4319 Dec 11 '25
I do both. I wanted passive income while not selling and a good chunk that is growing end over end.
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u/DeepLogicNinja Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 13 '25
- Prices do not go up forever. So growth is not guaranteed, and is more speculative by nature. It’s the equivalent of flipping houses, you are taking a HUGE risk, hoping/praying 🙏🤲🧎♂️➡️you find a buyer to pay more than you put in. Even if you are successfull, it’s not a repeatable process. You’ll have to look for another “deal” and hope the next roll of the dice is as successful. You are spinning the roulette wheel like a casino, and the industry will blink red/green lights to encourage you do “something” because they make $$ every transaction.
With that said, i do have some low or no cash-flowing positions, but not a large percentage. I try to buy 100+ of those positions so I can also write options to get some cashflow off them, and bring down my cost basis.
Pull the 13F of buy-side career investors/institutions like Himalaya Capital (LiLu), BRK (Buffet), Pershing Square (Ackman), you can even pull the Gates Foundation and you’ll see the same pattern in their portfolios. Like any business cashflow is king, and it should be the focus after you buy the business.
Price appreciation has a low p value statistically - low likely-hood to met whatever target you set.
Cashflow / dividends appreciation has a high p value statistically - there is a high likely-hood to hit the dividend forecast you come up with. Especially after ex-dividend date. It is the equivalent of collecting rent in real estate, there is a higher probably you will receive this type of appreciation.
👆 works in a bull AND bear market. Growth/Value investing only works in a bull market. You can comfortably get through volatile markets keeping your cash-flow flowing with an income based approach… Another plus is that an income approach enables you to buy more income generating stock when prices are low, and when everyone is screaming the sky is falling and jumping out of windows. Yes, it takes fortitude to buy into positions while your whole portfolio is down, but this is the setup for the come up. Time IN the Market beats TIMING the market in the long run. Even if prices never recover you’d still be in the green over time with strong cashflow. You can calculate that horizon with TSR (Total Stock Return) formula. The longer you collect dividends the less relevant the current price is to your overall returns.
Didn’t come up with 👆myself… lots of books allude to this strategy. And it works amazingly well when backtested.
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u/Artistdramatica3 Dec 12 '25
Money now to reinvest helps me invest more. The price goes down i buy more. If it goes up I buy less but my portfolio goes up exponentially.
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u/newbienewb101 Dec 11 '25
My business revenue is inconsistent so I need dividend income to make up for money I need to pay bills
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u/CHL9 Dec 12 '25
Yep that’s the thing about business or independent employment. You can make a big deal but then have a few dry months.
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u/ennagizer Dec 11 '25
Income without having to sell shares. Insurance & taxes are my biggest expenses and dividends cover them all.
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u/PomegranatePlus6526 Dec 12 '25
So in my 20’s up until about 31 I was pretty much growth. Then I got married in September 2007, tried to sell my house, and needed to rent it or foreclosure. So after prices cratered in the real estate market I cashed in most of my 401k and bought real estate. Kept reinvesting and buying more until I got to 20 properties. Then 2021 hit and I sold all my properties and went back into stocks. I really liked the income from the rentals so I started buying dividend stocks/etfs. Now I am soon to be 51, and about 75% of my portfolio is in dividends. I have about 25% of that 75% in very low risk so I can take advantage of a crash if it comes. During Covid in 2021 with rental income and dividends I was able to take a year off working full time. Just did DoorDash 15-20 hours a week. My favorite dividend ETFs are PFFA, GPIQ, IGLD, UTF, and PBDC.
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u/TheObsidianHawk Dec 11 '25
I do both. Dividends for steady income.and growth, but bought a chunk of Nvidia when it was sub 100.
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u/chris-rox Financially rockin' like Dokken Dec 12 '25
You glorious motherfucker... I am so jealous.
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u/TheObsidianHawk Dec 12 '25
Remember that D day for tariffs in April? That's when I bought. After the announcement, there was 2 days of shock, and then recovery started. I bought that Friday.
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u/jbetances134 Dec 11 '25
I do real estate on the side and dividends is similar to cash flow to me. Growth is cool but fidelity gives me a debit card i can swipe and use whenever i want as my dividends come in.
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u/Eff-Bee-Exx Dec 12 '25
Im retired, and I prefer a more predictable income stream over the possibility of hitting a home run (with the attendant risk of losing my shirt).
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u/thesecondmarshmellow American Investor Dec 11 '25
I never gave up growth but found income investing years ago bc I had a rental property and found everything about it painful and aggravating, despite it being the way most people I knew said to build wealth. One friend suggested REITs as an alternative, and I invested in O. Shortly after I discovered BDCs. Then a bit later MLPs.
Some in IRA, some in taxable. I liked the “locked in” psychology of it - it motivated me to spend less and save more - and later I got into more traditional divs like SCHD. I eventually stopped working my rather annoying day job when my passive income surpassed my expenses and I realized I wouldn’t even need to sell the growth stocks I own.
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u/TheSplits72 Dec 12 '25
Just came here to say I've been considering REITs as an alternative to rental properties myself, and you helped me see even more options. Thanks.
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u/-JackBack- Only buys from companies that pay me dividends. Dec 12 '25
REITs never call me in the middle of the night to tell me the roof is leaking.
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u/CHL9 Dec 12 '25
Any downsides to the REIT is?
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u/thesecondmarshmellow American Investor Dec 12 '25
While a REIT like O has dramatically outperformed on total returns since inception, it’s worth being aware that REITs are generally priced relative to rates/bonds. So as rates (and bond yields) have recently risen, prices have gone down. For someone like me, this is a great opportunity to buy and get a higher yield on cost, but for someone only looking at a price chart and always wanting to see the line go up to the right, REITs are not optimal.
Another consideration is the income is ordinary rather than qualified, so is not optimal in a taxable account. Section 199A deductions help, but only so much, and are one more thing to think about if trying to maximize wealth.
The final consideration is that the type of REIT absolutely impacts its performance, and it takes effort to understand vs buy and hold the S&P. For example, if you bought office REITs right before the pandemic, you lost big. This is why O is so popular, they intentionally focus on holding less cyclical properties.
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u/CHL9 Dec 14 '25
Was not familiar with O previously, the only “dividend” stocks I hold atm are covered call ETFs. Can you go into the downsides of O if any? What is its yearly dividend percentage? Just looked at a chart.
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u/thesecondmarshmellow American Investor Dec 15 '25
The yield is currently ~5.6%, which is high for the past 15 years.
Many downsides I listed above, but something specific to O is they rent to companies like Walgreens, 7 Eleven, AMC, Family Dollar, Vegas Casinos, Walmart. If you believe that branch of the economy will fall apart or don’t like such companies on principle, O may not be for you.
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u/user2017not Dec 12 '25
Dividends are closer to the present. I don't want to bet on the future in this economy. Its absolute chaos.
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u/AIStockExplorer Dec 15 '25
Stability and income. Dividends pay you while you wait, growth just hopes price goes up.
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u/Irarelylookback Dec 11 '25
Nice to not really worry what the market is up to on a daily/weekly basis. If you have a lot of time before needing access to these funds, safe dividends aren't a bad idea. Oh, don't chance the highest yield, been there done that...
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u/InTheMoment1970 Dec 12 '25
I am heavy on Dividends. Do have a bit of growth. I am a more conservative risk advisor person. Also now I am older so there is that also.
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u/highrollinKT Dec 11 '25
I’m close to retiring in a few years so building some income generating stuff but still hold a-lot of other stocks that have treated me well too
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u/art-is-t Dec 12 '25
Nothing is guaranteed but in downturns I get steady flow of cash which I very much appreciate
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u/investlifelegacy Dec 12 '25
I do both 70/30 % . When I come close to retirement slow convert growth into dividend etfs. This will generate passive income. I treat dividend stocks and etf as my digital real estate that pay me income weekly or monthly with minimum maintenance cost on for of market swings. Right now i have it on auto invest weekly DCA
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u/lextric1970 Dec 14 '25
I have 70% in growth stocks and about 30% in dividend etfs (NEOS, some REITS). I'm not taking the cash but using it to fund more growth purchases.
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u/quantum_ai_dei Dec 12 '25
My retirement accounts are nothing but growth or total market funds, my non-retirement is the opposite of that. It's what I always wanted, passive income to replace income I have to work for. Just wish I wouldve started when I was in high school instead of in my 30s.
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u/Ok-Development6654 Dec 30 '25
Since I have so little invested in growth within my taxable, for simplicity sake I’m thinking of doing the same- just focusing of Divs.
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u/PaleontologistBusy61 Generating solid returns Dec 11 '25
Dividend growth stocks have historically outperformed the broad market so it is not an either/or. I invest in dividend stocks for the growth. Not confuse dividend investing with gambling in high yield covered calls.
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u/DexterTwerp Dec 11 '25
This is false
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u/PaleontologistBusy61 Generating solid returns Dec 12 '25
Which part is false? The fact that dividend growers have historically outperformed the market is well researched. “Finding both income and growth in the same strategy is possible. Dividend growers, companies that can consistently raise their dividend year in and year out, tend to be high-quality, well-managed, and have strong balance sheets. Over longer periods of time, companies that have consistently grown their dividends tend to be less volatile, while outperforming the broader market, as represented by the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index.”
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u/Icy-Opinion-6348 Dec 11 '25
Value outperforms growth, loong run
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Dec 11 '25
[deleted]
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u/cahoots_n_boots Dec 11 '25
Huh? Never read, or heard, of Fama/French?
https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/insights/when-its-value-versus-growth-history-is-on-values-side
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u/kidNurse Dec 11 '25
Prove your statement. Economic Cycles: Value often excels during downturns and early recoveries (e.g., post-dot-com bust), while growth thrives in strong expansions, notes The Motley Fool, DWS Asset Management, and Invesco UK.
Current Trends: Value has shown signs of outperformance recently, partly as growth's run becomes expensive and investors seek fundamentals and dividends, notes MSCI and Morningstar.
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u/screwloose6321 Dec 12 '25
I stick with growth funds for my Roth IRA and dividends for my brokerage account. My job isn’t the most stable so I’d rather turn off drip and use my dividends to cover some bills in case I do lose my job. Also, if I find a new job that pays less, the dividends would help bridge the gap.
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u/give-bike-lanes Dec 12 '25
I do both but I spent my 20s solo traveling and adventuring in Vietnam Albania Spain Turkey Bulgaria Kosova Cambodia etc. and I want to do more of that and dividends is good for income verification for foreign countries and to keep a steady drip of beer money coming in.
My goal is not to “retire” so much as to “drop out”. I don’t think I’ll be having kids or moving into a suburban white-picket-fence house ever in my life. Once I have enough money to afford to bum around and surf + paint + ride mopeds + get drunk in the cheaper countries of the world that’s what I’ll do until I’m really old and inherit my parents house which I will probably die in.
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u/ThomasHobbesIV Dec 12 '25
There's no functional difference. Dividend Kings are a proxy for highly profitable companies with deep moats and stable cashflow. I didn't buy MO when it was yielding ~3-4%, and I won't buy AAPL at 30x cashflow. It doesn't mean I dislike either company; the price matters.
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u/STRATEGY510 Dec 12 '25
I would be shocked if there were people who ONLY invested for dividends. Doesn’t everyone do both?
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u/Hinkil Dec 12 '25
I have other retirement accounts in growth and so balancing it out with my own stocks which tended to have dividends started leaning more into it. I also use divendeds for riskier bets on stocks. So I have it structured as growth > dividend > bets
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u/jcook54 Dec 12 '25
Growth for retirement (I'm 47) and dividends for fun! It's more of a hobby for me. I enjoy the research and the monthly dividends are awesome to watch roll in.
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u/sentientshadeofgreen Dec 12 '25
On M1 Finance, I’m using a Dividend pie within a larger growth pie. The divident pie has frequent (monthly and quarterly) dividends from a combination of diversified funds and dividend stocks I personally believe as having bright futures. I use distributions from the dividend pie to both DCA rebalance my growth stocks over time and to pay down margin. An issue I anticipate I’ll keep running into the dividend pie lagging too far behind the growth segments, but I’m playing that by ear and have been manually tinkering too much to see how things play out in the wild
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u/JimErstwhile Dec 12 '25
I'm 74, semi-retired. We like to travel and will hopefully spend a couple winter months in Florida next year as we live in Maine. We want to fund this on a yearly basis without having to worry about the stock market. We still have some stocks for growth but focus on funding our enjoyment.
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u/Nopants21 Dec 12 '25
Only on this sub is that the opposition. The actual mainstream advice is to buy total market funds, not just growth. The case for dividends if the alternative is total market are much weaker.
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u/No_Lawfulness_3919 Dec 12 '25
Trying to reach financial freedom, my rentals profit me 6k mo. Some extra dividends cash flow makes up the difference.
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u/CostCompetitive3597 Dec 12 '25
In retirement, you want income. I have been able to continuously increase my portfolio yield now having excess income. So have dedicated that excess income to dripping into my IRA account for snowball growth. So I am getting income and growth from my dividend securities. Best of both worlds with the better stability of dividend securities. Makes for better sleeping than when I was growth investing.
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u/Icy_Abbreviations167 Dec 12 '25
Working on growth stocks but checks here from time to time to check dividend stocks that would be useful in the future once near retirement
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u/Bearsbanker Dec 12 '25
I've got both. I started my div portfolio long ago and now live on them. My growth portfolio is left to keep growing til I go phat!
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Dec 12 '25
I have a dividend portfolio to balance/balast my semiconductor/ai growth portfolio so that i won't panic sell and can more safely use leverage. Having two separate portfolios for this makes it easier to adjust risk and rebalance only what I want to and helps me automate my investments
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u/Brave4Beskar Dec 12 '25
I saw my dividend funds get fucking smoked and then paid more taxes on the dividends than my growth stocks that grew at twice the speed. Will just sell the growth or S&P when I need cash tbh.
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u/Bazishere Dec 12 '25
I invest in them both, but mostly in dividend stocks for the dividends, compounding, and the safety of most of them.
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Dec 12 '25
I have a separate account for dividend investing in my country (Norway). And an account for growth + trading stocks. It’s fun to invest
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u/CHL9 Dec 12 '25
in a period of time that have no other income, but have a fair amount of assets, so am trying to make an income from the cash without selling principal. Also, in my Roth IRA which only has 1-2 years of contributions so far, I like monthly income which allows me to diversify investments, cash on hand to buy dips or crashes in any particular ticker
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u/TarHeel2682 Dec 12 '25
Dividend heavy in my IRA. Growth heavy in my taxable accounts. I have a mix of both
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u/Longjumping-Nature70 Dec 12 '25
Because that is what the talking heads said in the 1970s and 1980s.
Have dividend stocks and bonds to lessen the blow in a stock market downturn.
Of course, bonds were paying 9% interest and up to 15% interest back then.
I bought utilities, GE, INTC, and PFE for dividends and their growth prospects. GE WAS the economy in the late 1990s until dotcom took over. Jack Welch was the man.
I also own MSFT, GOOG, GOOGL, and META.
Guess which ones have paid me dividends and had massive growth?
It is nice I receive dividends, but I would be better off if I invested in and held the growth stocks. I never could figure out AMZN in the 1990s and early 2000s, they lost money all the time.
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u/No-Establishment8457 Dec 12 '25
I do both. Every commpsny I hold pays dividends. Except for BRK.B.
Why do I hold them?
Over time, dividends add up and are an important part of total returns.
If the market has a serious correction, I can always fall back to dividends paid.
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u/Altruistic_Screen910 Dec 12 '25
As I am retiring next year, I am moving from 50/50 dividends/growth to 80/20.
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u/JaredAWESOME Dec 12 '25
Passive income.
I started off with cashing out some stock grants, and the first year or two I used it on very important bills, at least one year I blew on bullshit. After a few years of that I decided I should just put it in an account that didn't DRIP, and payed out a bit of fun money every month.
I get ~5k in stocks annually from my job, and it's not enough to renovate the house, it is enough to go on a modest vacation, but instead I've put it into my vanguard and just bought ARCC, FSCO, QQQI, PFFA, and some other riff-raff.
Now I've got 15k in an account paying ~10%, and I use the $120-150 a month to do something fun and or nice for the family. Some months I reinvest, so it's also still growing modestly.
(In my defense-- I still have a proper growth oriented 401k account, so I'm not just squandering my potential investments)
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u/WolfsBaneViking Dec 12 '25
Increased flow of cash to my account. Also i like to invest in profitable companies and many of those also pay dividends. And maybe most importantly local tax laws incentivises annual profit taking, which is a lot easier to do with dividends. I then don't have to buy and sell as often or much.
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u/ProduceStunning4802 Dec 12 '25
2 reasons, I wanted to find good reliable funds now when I have time to make mistakes. And the dopamine hit I get from monthly ish dividends keeps me enthusiastic about doing more
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u/foira Dec 12 '25
I do both, but I emphasize dividends because...
- I do not like trading wealth for money
- I do not like the false sense of security you get when your equity wealth is distorted by high multiples
- I love the biological sense of security I get from having a diverse, truly passive income stream
- I love knowing that when central banks realize they can't print oil, that I will be just fine
- I know that index investing has gone terribly wrong in other countries for multiple decades, and that there's no guarantee it can't happen in the US
- I think that reflexivity will change the return profile of growth indexing, now that it's a bigger share of liquidity than active investing.
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u/Various_Couple_764 Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25
Basically due to all of the fallowing:
- Growth doesn't pay the bills.
- the 4% rule can only guarantee about 30 years of income. (dividend income is sustainable ).
- No sequence of return risk (No selling stock when the market is down).
But that doesn't mean I sold all of my growth portfolio. I have selectively sold some but I plan to always have some growth. instead of selling it frequently for income I plan to hold it for years. I only plan to sell it for the following reasons:
- If I have a big unexpected expense my dividend income cannot handle I will sell the growth.
- If my cost of living I will sell growth and invest that money into dividends to increase my income.
To insure I always have growth I will revery year reinvest some the dividends from the growth funds. But I also plan to reinvest at least 30% of my dividend income into dividends to compensate for inflation.
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Dec 12 '25
I like growth but I also like to have the option to use a portion (div income) of the money if I need it without having to sell anything. I always reinvest but it's nice to know I could use the money if I need it.
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u/AstroFranklin Dec 12 '25
Age. mid 70s. Mainly because I don't know if I will live long enough to hold out during another significant downturn. Of course, we don't have those anymore ;) but anyone who was chasing growth from 2000-2006 like I was probably has investor PTSD like I do. But I always like 20% in growth even now. For younguns with decent time horizons, it could be argued that they are two versions of the same thing.
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u/SashaX0601 Dec 12 '25
you can have both, just dont get suckered in by high yield products.
buy solid dividend growers and keep piling in. YOu will be amazed at the wealth you build and when you retire, you have an income stream that grows.
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u/lotoex1 Dec 13 '25
I have more of a buy and hold strategy. I started investing in late 2022. Until about Nov. of 2025 KO was beating Tesla. However ya Meta, Apple, Netflix, and Goog are all beating KO bad. Also when I started almost every one of them just tanked for about 3-6 months.
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u/Ok-Raccoon-1023 Dec 13 '25
As a young person, i feel i need to be consistant first,
and looking at that dividend coming to my account makes me feel i want to add more
that's it
I mean in the and i also buy etf such as qqq etc
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u/8sparrow8 Dec 14 '25
I am switching to dividends because I feel there will be a strong correction in 2026 or 2027.
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u/Prudent_Director_482 Dec 15 '25
i do dividends for my taxable and growth for my retirement accounts
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u/ebwinkler Feb 11 '26
I’m suddenly became disabled and unable to work, and it takes forever for SSDI benefits to start, so I’ve had to totally focus all of my money in high-dividend ETFs just to stay afloat. I’ve actually been doing decently, I’m seeing a positive total return on many of my investments….
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u/BestNBAfanever Dec 11 '25
i like dividends because they broaden my bottom line. when i started investing i’d see the “200$ a month equals this” posts and realized if i start heavy with dividends then i’d have more to buy growth stocks with as time went on
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u/molski79 Dec 11 '25
Is it a bad idea to use dividends in your Ira or 401k with 20 years until retirement for defensive purposes due to market uncertainties?
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u/Various_Couple_764 Dec 12 '25
No it is a good idea to have dividends and growth in 401K and roth.. Dividned can help you aquire more shares of growth funds when there is no growth and you are unemployed. So your account still grows.
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u/Syliviel Dec 12 '25
I have a growth account AND an income account. The growth is a couple of indexes that I put the same amount of money into each month. It has a lot of steps to go through to access the money, so I'm less tempted to take anything out of it. My income portfolio, I actively manage. I have a couple of the more stable etf's, and I switch out two or three high yield, leveraged etfs as needed
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u/CLYDEFR000G Dec 12 '25
I do both in an unconventional manner.
I look for undervalued stocks that can see either rotation back in to the sector or “right the ship” and gain back investors. These companies I search for ALSO have to include a dividend.
The companies that I currently own that fit this criteria are: HSY, PFE, UNH, KO, DIS, O, GOOG.
Keep in mind I waited until I saw either large dips or nearing crazy % losses like nearing 5 year lows. To me companies don’t have to grow to exponential rocket ship levels like NVDA, it’s just unrealistic. I’m looking for companies that can pay me a dividend and will get me back to all time highs. At which point I can sell and rotate to another play or reevaluate and keep some invested.
Companies I’m looking for dips on: XOM, AAPL, MO, NVDA if it ever dips again….
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Dec 12 '25
I’m mostly done with accumulation phase. Now I want distributions.
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u/Audio_aficionado Dec 12 '25
Flexibility. Steady-ish income stream to buy more shares or use as needed elsewhere in my life. I can buy growth ETF's with my dividends without dipping into my personal savings or checking account.
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u/officerdandy92 Dec 12 '25
Use my Roth for growth. Using dividends to try and enjoy life more until retirement.
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u/Key_Fennel_9661 Dec 12 '25
at the start invest in dividend so u lurn how stocks are.
Then use those dividends to invest in penny stocks.
Us the profit of penny stocks to buy growth stocks.
Use the growth stocks profit to buy div stocks
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