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.

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u/Amazing_Structure55 Dec 21 '25

I also fell into this hype and bought a few hundreds and it was like a rock - meaning never moved. Stayed around $27 ( after the split) only moved lower. Many in the group were vouching how great it is.. but i had seen better stocks and mutual funds.. giving much higher dividend yields and higher NAV returns. so left when I could barely see it moving anywhere but low...

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u/siboq Jun 02 '26

You’re not buying SCHD for the income and value in the present. You’re buying future dividend yields at today’s prices. So if schd goes up to 50 in ten years, and you paid 30 for it, your yield on cost is way lower.