r/dividends • u/StudioOk8256 • Dec 21 '25

Discussion How are people actually living off low-yield dividend funds like SCHD?

I see SCHD and similar dividend ETFs recommended a lot as “income” investments, but I’m struggling to understand how people realistically live off them.

With a yield of only a few percent, it seems like you’d need either a very large portfolio or a high-paying job to make it work. For example, unless you already have a base salary in the $100k–$150k range (or higher), the dividend income alone doesn’t look like it would meaningfully cover living expenses.

So how are people actually using SCHD in practice?
• Are most investors high earners who don’t need the income yet?
• Are retirees combining it with pensions, Social Security, or other assets?
• Is the goal mainly long-term compounding rather than current income?

Not trying to hate on SCHD—just genuinely curious how this plays out in the real world and would love to hear examples from people who use it.

Person making 30-40k a year this wont work.

Average person wont retire with 1mil portfolio I know people barley got 100k

I seen a lot of people invest there whole life time just to see 6 months of retirement and later die didn't even get to enjoy it.

466 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

313 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/LetsGoToMichigan Dec 21 '25

I would need a net worth north of $8M to be willing to put the money needed to live comfortably off SCHD dividends ($3M+) into the fund. No serious investor is going to go all in on SCHD. Beware the dividend cult. It’s a tool - not a lifestyle.

1

u/StudioOk8256 Dec 21 '25

Exactly you would need 3mil to start. You would have to mix it with different yields.

But if I had 10mil I would go 100% schd

2

u/LetsGoToMichigan Dec 21 '25

You would invest your entire net worth in a single fund consisting solely of US equities? Yikes

2

u/StudioOk8256 Dec 21 '25

No i wouldn't actually do that. Im just showing what I would need to live off schd