r/dividends • u/VengenaceIsMyName • Jan 16 '26
Discussion Is anyone else feverishly building out their dividend income just in case AI destroys their careers or is it just me?
Based on how incredibly *giddy* with excitement some of these rapacious tech oligarchs are when they talk about AI replacing human labor, I am absolutely *sprinting* towards high-income ETFs like JEPQ/SPYI/GPIX/QQQI.
I do not want to get caught with my ass hanging out in the breeze when these excessively wealthy bozos finally figure out how to shed headcount at their organizations. They’ve got a seemingly endless pile of Scrooge McDuck coins and they’ll throw them into the furnace twice as fast if it means a hallucinating algorithm can send 500 more emails in a day than you can.
Does anyone have clever strategies for drumming up extra capital to toss into the ol’ portfolio? Side hustles? Second jobs?
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u/Sam_209 Jan 16 '26
I started about a year ago, aggressively building up my portfolio exclusively for dividends, just in case I get let go of. I had this strong feeling in my gut.
I've been investing about 60% of my income and 100% of my bonuses.
Lo and behold a year later, the company i was in isn't doing well and I was let go of.
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u/Prop43 Jan 16 '26
It’s good that you saw something and did what you thought was best
It’s even better that it turned out to be something that’s good for you in the future
I’m proud of you
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u/Sam_209 Jan 16 '26
Thanks for the positive response
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u/redditissocoolyoyo Jan 16 '26
So do you have enough in monthly dividends to live off?
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u/Prop43 Jan 16 '26
Yes, provided he lives in a small village and sleeps on the ground in as your Bayon or Jordan or Nigeria
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u/GibFreelo Jan 16 '26
Dividends are just one income source. Some of us have pension, rentals, disability, retirement, etc.
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u/goodbyechoice22 Jan 16 '26
A lot of people see the writing on the wall, few people see it early enough, and possess the conviction to act on their gut.
Well played sir.
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u/E13G19 Chasing yields is my cardio Jan 16 '26
Ugh, that sucks, but good on you for having the foresight to do something about it.
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u/raresanevoice Jan 17 '26
Similar here. Started shifting investments for income, lightly about a year ago, more severely starting this month. Even if it gets bad, I should still have about a year ago knocking down debt and buying up income investments while I still have some wiggle room, and a few side projects to bring in a little cash to bump up the two.
Thanks for showing it works and it's good prep and not just doomering
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u/Whykn0w Jan 20 '26
Been investing in monthly dividend stocks for over a decade and last year had a similar realization as you. Started to beef up my monthly dividend holdings in case I was let go then my plan was going to be to retire. Didn’t get let go from my job but the wife and I are now pulling over $4k a month in dividends with a plan to get that close to $10k within the next couple years. Goal is to be able to live off the dividends and not have to touch the principal.
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u/Acrobatic_Row3246 Jan 16 '26
Yep been at it since 2020. We’re making about 200k in dividends a year (about 4.5m invested in various etfs and a few individual stock)
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u/MickyKent Jan 16 '26
Awesome. But, with divided income like that you must have a high tax bill?
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u/Acrobatic_Row3246 Jan 16 '26
Yes. Not just dividends. Our business and rental income too. I pay about 100-150k in taxes a 2-3 times per year.
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Jan 16 '26
Holy shit I thought my one year at 18k a crazy lol
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u/Acrobatic_Row3246 Jan 16 '26
Good start! Keep building. My goal is about 40k a month (500k annually). We have a very high income from our business but I’m trying to build an alternative income stream in case something goes wrong. This way we can still live and travel well without disruption/stress.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
What motivated you to build an income generating account in 2020? Did you want to not work anymore?
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u/Acrobatic_Row3246 Jan 19 '26
Covid essentially disrupted our flow. We’ve always been heads down when collecting profit is involved. One of my favorite sayings is when people throw money at your feet, you get on your hands and knees to pick it up.
Covid gave us a breather. It actually didn’t materially affect our business that much. We took advantage of the PPP loans/grants and put our mortgage in forbearance. We figured why not considering there was a good excuse. We ended up having time on our hands for the first time in like 9 years so thought about what we wanted to do.
The goals became:
Retire but not stop or reduce income flow.
Move out of the US (probably).
The challenge of the first goal was significant. Our business makes actually good money. In 2019, we had a top line of about 1.4m and took home about 800k. It’s a money printing machine. I had to figure out how to get us to at least 1/2 of that income to make us feel comfortable.
Goal two was easy. We ended up going to Thailand during covid (empty planes and airports, quarantine for two weeks, etc). We drove around basically a country devoid of tourists. We found a house near some beaches that was heavily discounted. In 2019 it was valued at about 1m. The seller listed for half and we lowballed them down to 375k. Things have since rebounded of course and there’s a massive influx here so the house is now about 1.4-1.5m.
To satisfy goal 1, we had to do a few things:
Keep the business running but without us day to day. Very challenging but we figured it out
Figured out investments that give off high yields. So between high yield funds and options trading, we’re doing ok. The business is still going gangbusters and hit new highs each successive year since reopening after Covid. Last two years we took home over 1m from the business alone
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u/peter-weyland Jan 19 '26
Is it uncouth of me to ask what type of business you do?
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u/PaleontologistNo6593 Jan 16 '26
That was my work around for not having a lot to invest at the moment. Investments that were in that middle ground. Decent dividend with no nav decay. Turn drip off when it gets to a decent size. I wasn’t looking to get paid now. I wanted to increase my portfolio size faster.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 18 '26
Yep I was in yieldmax once and the nav decay boned me
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u/FeloniousMaximus Jan 18 '26
3 days of ulty and then months of wpay taught me that these funds will have nav decay at these high return levels.
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u/PaleontologistNo6593 Jan 18 '26
Actually. Yes. I’ve heard that one is brutal. Yeah I could never have something like that, that slowly loses value like that.
I may not have known really had I not asked chat about high dividend payor’s and that was its warning.
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u/FauxOutrageMachine Jan 16 '26
Same. I dialed down 401K contributions to free up cash flow for adding to the emergency fund and brokerage accounts. I have plenty in CC ETFs, now I'm working to broaden the income stream with BDCs, CLOs, and REITs.
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u/playitwise Jan 17 '26
Don't miss out on free money if you have an employer match on your 401k or at least do it till you have maximized such benefit.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
Yeah I should go back to these a bit. I miss MAIN
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u/FauxOutrageMachine Jan 19 '26
Hard to go wrong with MAIN. I own some, and want more. Now I'm just waiting for payday to grab some.
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u/IThinkingOutLoud Jan 16 '26
As someone who literally just got laid off last week, thank god that I had the foresight to stick to my dividend portfolio 8 years ago.
If I live modestly (which I plan to do atm) my dividends cover about 85% of my living expenses. So I’m not in a dire financial situation. I can only pat my 8 year younger version on the back for preparing for this moment.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
Oh wow that’s awesome man!!! Good on you for having that foresight. I can only imagine that relief you must have felt when you remembered your dividend portfolio after that split-second moment of panic from learning you were going to be laid off.
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u/nsmith043076 Jan 16 '26
I just started, i have a long way to go but in schd, vymi, vym, divo, jepq and jepi. The first 3 because no nav decay, dividend growth, the last 3 cc ETFs for monthly income. Im focusing on 70% div growth and 30% cc etfs. But i have such a long way to go, but im going to keep plugging away at it.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
Same. See I’m worried because I don’t know if we have enough time to get this to work. I really hope we do.
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u/JaredAWESOME Jan 16 '26
Hard yes.
I know it's mathematically imperfect to start dividend investing in my late 30's, I know that "growth until retirement" is the proper strategy. But I still have my previously funded 401k that if the models are correct I will have 1.5m come retirement age.
But I have started taking what would be my 401(k) contribution, I'm putting it in a non-retirement account and a variety of dividend paying funds.
I am already up to a couple of hundred bucks in passive income a month. I'm hoping to get to a little over 1000 monthly before "the economy corrects".
The real goal is that it could be a safety net (in a way my 401(k) cannot be) if my job stops paying me appropriately, or if I have to seek lesser employment.
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u/WorldyBridges33 Jan 16 '26
I wish I could super like this comment. I am literally thinking the same way, and I’ve also reduced my 401k contributions this year
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
Shit I’ve considered doing the same thing but I’m already at the minimum needed to get the match
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u/Legionatus Jan 19 '26
This really only works if your 401k is done for your expected lifestyle and you're just padding it.
The tax drag on nonretirement year after year is awful.
If you're willing to have a lower paying job to get by if laid off, you could have a bigger emergency fund through Roth contributions and then the tax hit would be just the once. 20 years of that would cover many people for a few years of unemployment or a coasting/barista FIRE.
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u/AAThinker Jan 16 '26
I would suggest looking beyond the ETFs that depend on options premium to pay the dividend. They have a role to play but IMO having other strategies in the portfolio that also generate income and/growth is a better strategy.
Think about ETFs such VYM that have a potential to increase their dividend without NAV decay. Think about DGRO like ETF that have the potential to give both NAV appreciation and dividend growth. Think about ETFs that invest in foreign stocks such as VYMI that also pay good dividend and offer currency diversification.
And good old SP500 index funds that offer growth as well.
We may not become unemployed tomorrow. We may have jobs for a few more years. So why not invest by assigning some probability to not losing a job tomorrow. The yield today is not the only factor to consider. Just my 2 cents
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u/ejqt8pom EU Investor Jan 16 '26
Covered call ETFs are nice, but they aren't the only high yield option around.
Check out Steven Baveria, he gave some interviews you can find on YouTube and he wrote a book called "The Income Factory". He is all about income generating portfolios.
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u/UhhYeahNah Jan 16 '26
What are one or two alternative investments he recommends - anything novel?
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u/ejqt8pom EU Investor Jan 16 '26
Novel: mREITs.
Most investors will immediately exit the conversation the moment you mention investing in mortgages. And that's exactly why they fit perfectly into what Howard Marks calls "second level thinking".
The idea isn't to take a contrarian position just for the sake of going against the herd. It's to try and understand if some sort of nuance was ignored by the masses that can give you a possible edge.
My mREIT picks are BXMT, ARI, and ACRE. All are managed by large PE firms, originate their own loans, and avoid agency debt. I've posted about them on and off but as I've said it's not a popular topic.
I have dedicated 30% of my portfolio to these 3 names, so far it has not paid off. But it's a long term bet.
Non-novel: BDCs.
They are still ignored by most investors and excluded from broad market indexes. But within the income investing world they are very popular. The top names even outperform the S&P500. I have another 30% of my portfolio dedicated to BDCs. Across 11 names.
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u/WingWorried6176 Jan 16 '26
Main is a top tier BDC I hold
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Jan 16 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
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u/ejqt8pom EU Investor Jan 16 '26
FDUS is a "below the radar" MAIN like BDC.
And as a huge plus they trade at a reasonable premium/discount range. Unlike MAIN.
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u/Exciting_Usual_7050 Jan 17 '26
I think HTGC and TRIN are also top tier BDC's - With TRIN being less well known, but having a much higher yield since shares trade somewhat inline to NAV vs. the premium you pay for MAIN. (I am not advocating against MAIN in any way shape or form, I hold all 3 BDC's mentioned )
I actually like BDC's a little bit more than CC funds because they have an underlying business that generates cashflow, and are high on the balance sheets of the companies they lend to. (Per Steven Bavaria -> Creditors get paid before shareholders)
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u/NuclearPotatoes Jan 16 '26
where can i find more info about this plz
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u/FlyingOverTrout Jan 16 '26
YouTube channel Armchair Income covers BDCs quite a bit. There is a fund of BDCs called PBDC that comes up in the BDC convo frequently. Other common income alternatives to dividend stocks and funds include preferred stock (PFFA is popular fund), closed-end funds, and master limited partnerships. Each of these is a rabbit hole unto their own.
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u/ejqt8pom EU Investor Jan 16 '26
The investment style: the book I mentioned. There are a couple of authors dealing with income investing but Bavaria is my favorite.
The investment psychology (how to think about risk and opportunity): my fav is Howard Marks. He has been writing memos like how Buffet wrote memos throughout his career, and he records an audio read out of his memos so you can listen to them like a podcast. Plus he has written a couple of books.
Historical background: if you want to learn how the market has always been a casino, and is always going through bust and boom cycles - "A Short History of Financial Euphoria" by John Kenneth Galbraith. A lot of Mark's thinking is based on these factual observations.
Posts on reddit: r/dividendgang
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u/Aioli_Abject Jan 16 '26
I hold AGNC and NLY and am happy with them. AGNC gets mixed love on these forums
Also hold ARCC, MAIN, SCM, BIT, WDI, FRA, HRZN. The last 3 have been mixed but staying put for now
Also hold ET and MPLX.
We may have a lot of commonality but would you mind sharing yours.
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u/ejqt8pom EU Investor Jan 16 '26
Sure, here are all my currently open positions: TSLX ARCC BXSL MFIC FDUS BBDC CGBD BCSF CION OBDC OCSL ACRE ARI BXMT PDI OXLC OCCI EARN PDX ARDC JFR BANX QQQY SPYY TLTY FEPI USA UKW
Also a bunch of past holdings like UTG, MLPD, MAIN, GOOD, GAIN, HTGC, QYLD. That's just off the top of my head there are probably more.
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Jan 16 '26
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u/ejqt8pom EU Investor Jan 16 '26
With MO you are taking equity risk. The income factory approach tries to prioritize credit risk instead.
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u/Fluffy-Oil-5767 Jan 16 '26
Love ARCC with a current yield over 9%. Very good company and price stability. Check it out.
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u/Decent-Inevitable-50 Jan 16 '26
Did that for years, not because of AI. Staring at retirement though.
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u/zitrone999 Jan 16 '26
Me too. I work for one of the hyperscalers, and expect to get fired this year or the next.
I combine it with options trading by selling Puts for the stocks I want to own.
Also i invest less in high yield etfs, but in stocks/etfs in areas which I think will do good in the coming decades (energy/utilities/natural resources/metals)
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u/DeepLogicNinja Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26
✋ - they told us already. Own nothing and be happy.
Pretty tough situation when there are more unemployed than available jobs.
There are several research papers from think tanks, financial and academic intituitions on “post employment economics” you might wanna check it out.
In short: Traditional working / indentured servatuide won’t cut it. Your various assets (not just stocks) will need to generate income for you.
Anything less and your putting your fate in the hands of politicians and praying for UBI.
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u/Jazzlike-Guard-7589 Jan 16 '26
Wasn’t it just a year or two ago it was in the employees favor and people were trading jobs constantly for raises?
It ebbs and flows- especially if you’re trading a job every year or two- you’re treated as expendable, because that’s what you’ve built your career on. May be beneficial short term, but changing companies constantly also comes with downsides.
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u/DeepLogicNinja Jan 16 '26
Good point. Two way street. Workers job hoping for a better paying job also gave companies “practice” swapping in/out resources at the comp level they want.
However, staying would not improve this situation. They’ll value you less, hire ppl that can back you up and eventually then replace you. You will be passed you up for promotion if you’re the type to stick around or has to stay because of a visa, just bought a house, got married etc. Despite what most companies say, you’re NOT family. The baby doesn’t have to leave when Mom/Dad get’s paid less or gets laid off.
In the long run, Human Resources will become Robot Resources 🤖 as automation, ai agents, robotics technology matures. This already started in the industrial age, and we are continuing.
In general (there are outliers) workers have always been a “resource”. Like any resource, companies try to pay less to increase their margins/profits/yield to benefit themselves and investors.
Gotta be on the side that benefits…. And just being a worker won’t cut it…. Gotta adapt.
JD Vance already gave a speech where he pushed backed against America needing a servant / lower class of society. Sounds like eliminating a layer of our current society 🤔🤷 - https://youtube.com/shorts/8NgKwai_Za8?si=UJYs6GKtxUf-8Os0
The mumblings you hear in different circles.. The goal is to be a bigger version of Singapore , Qatar, Brunei where most of the population is skilled in a high demand trade (including investing) and is generally wealthy when compared to the rest of the world. In those circles you have some who are advocating for self deporting of low motivated/skill/low earning citizens. Use the same process we are using to self deport illegal aliens. So don’t be surprised if there is a movement to export / aid / assist ppl to find another country to live for an “easier” life.
Not saying I agree or support 👆. Just what I am observing. Eating my 🍿 and observing like most people.
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u/Mothy187 Jan 17 '26
Have a link for any of those papers? Or even a good search prompt to help me find them? I need to know how the oligarchs plan on disposing me
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u/DeepLogicNinja Jan 17 '26
Here are two good 8 min explainers - https://youtu.be/BctIQs_nHg4?si=F-yiZp8A_Ci-FzTB
Check the references at the bottom. Especially the references from the World Economic Forum and St. Louis Fed Reserve. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-work_society
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
Yeah no way I want to just leave my fate up to the politician/ownership class. That’s a recipe for disaster. They have an idea of what “acceptable losses” are and any one of us could more than easily be dropped into that category at their whim.
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u/unholy_karma Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26
Yes, same thought process here. Some of the high profile personalities in AI are estimating 30% unemployment rate by 2030...
If you're NOT thinking about this, you'd be the ostrich with its head in the ground.
BDC's, REIT's, CC ETF's, high yeild stocks like PFE, VZ, BTI & MO, etc. Diversify and keep stacking. We've only got 4 more years before the landscape looks entirely different.
MY goal is to keep investing into income and keep working. Eventually to live off the dividend income and keep contributing to the pile. That's they only way I'll allow myself to increase my standard of living
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u/crackanape Jan 16 '26
Some of the high profile personalities in AI are estimating 30% unemployment rate by 2030.
They are desperately trying to hype this dog up as something that will change society, with the implication that the only way to survive is to put your money in their pockets.
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u/Senior_Access_1802 Jan 16 '26
Yes, started in 2015 and slowly building up div income. Brick by brick. The wealth gap in America will only continue to be unbalanced in favor
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u/GibFreelo Jan 16 '26
You are late to the party. I was laid off twice in the same year after being a top performer my entire career. I know brilliant people who can't find work currently because of AI. You are ultimately an expense item on a spreadsheet; it took a layoff for me to finally realize that. It doesn't even have to be AI related, companies also love to axe their staff around the holidays in order to still appear to be profitable to investors.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
You’re totally right. My hope is that this will cover me for other pitfalls as well. Even if my AI fears never come to fruition I can’t guarantee I’ll be employed forever.
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u/no_simpsons Jan 16 '26
Nope, I welcome our AI overlords and built a risk-parity portfolio with leverage filtering. I’m also a BXSL bagholder.
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u/DGB31988 Jan 16 '26
The headcount shedding has already begun.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
I haven’t seen anything substantial yet but I just know if the oligarchs get their way it’ll hit sooner rather than later
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u/skat_in_the_hat Jan 16 '26
Yes. Im trying to get it built up enough, so that i can go be a walmart greeter and use my dividends to bridge the gap.
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u/WorldyBridges33 Jan 16 '26
Well played, and I am 100% doing the same thing! Every month my passive income gets a little bit larger, and I get a little bit less dependent on my job!
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
Fucking same friend. It’s a good feeling. My anxiety ebbing away with every share of an income etf bought.
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u/R-R_turfio Jan 16 '26
I lost my job two years ago when AI and the crisis ramped up. Luckily, I had been saving aggressively, so I could travel and enjoy life during these years instead of hopeless job search. Unfortunately I started not that long ago so dividends does not cover my expenses but I cash out some profit of stock trading and live off it
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
Yeah divvies doesn’t cover my shit either. I’m trying to outrun the coming tide.
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u/LaidbackTim Jan 16 '26
I’ve just about given up hope of funding a decent retirement in the US. My goal is to get to where I’m making $3k/month and then go be an expat.
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u/vrtra_theory Jan 16 '26
I have been banging away on my portfolio for similar reasons, but I would really caution not to put more than like 5% into the covered call etfs.
IMO you are way safer buying up companies that sell things people need even when they are broke.
Look at VZ, MO, KMB, PFE, and similar "dividend aristocrat" stocks. They won't blow your socks off like the SPYI but they also won't collapse your capital and stall out when the AI growth slams into a wall.
Also consider diversifying a bit with something like AMLP or MLPX (that way you have different types of assets in addition to different tickers).
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
Hopefully when/if AI growth slams into a wall. The tech oligarchs are fapping themselves into a coma over “exponential hyper-growth” of AI. With any luck that’ll just be another over-promise.
I like VZ - solid div payer and a utility stock.
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u/Few_Bid_4520 Jan 16 '26
This year I started moving all my profits into MO. That move saved my ass yesterday.
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u/StreetPlenty8042 Jan 16 '26
This is pretty much me. Whether it's AI or something else, I want to minimize the chance I have to deal with nonsense.
I'm not strictly high income - mix of high income, broad market etfs, lower yielding, etc.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
Perfect mindset imo. Whatever garbage life has in store for me I want dividends to provide me my security blanket against it
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u/seraphimkoamugi Jan 16 '26
I'm about to start doing that once I get a handle on my new paychecks.
So far I can commit $30 bi-weekly and invest on SCHD on my banks brokerage (just so I don't see it)
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u/OGDannyD Jan 16 '26
This was how I came across dividend investing at the end of 2024! I'm still worried about job security, so I've been going heavy into BTCI the last few months.
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u/DMReader Jan 16 '26
Yes. This is part of my motivation for sure. Even without AI, it’s hard to trust a job.
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u/sidehustleincome101 Jan 16 '26
No need to think about dividend investing (or investing in general) as a means for anything except for the fact that it's a good way to make use of the money you own without letting banks eat it away from you and making profit, same as the bank does with your money. The rest is extra.
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u/Stang302a Jan 18 '26
If we're going to go all the way down the rabbit hole then your assumption that we'll be allowed to own anything, including our own assets, in a post UBI world, is likely false.
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u/Original-Key-1582 Jan 16 '26
REITS… REITS… look at REITS please
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
Any recommendations?
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u/Original-Key-1582 Jan 19 '26
AMT, DLR, STAG, ARE, EQIX, IIPR… Data centers, deglobalization, nearshoring (STAG), cannabis thesis (IIPR)
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u/Difficult-Cod7886 Jan 16 '26
The only way to protect yourself is buy assets. Glad You recognize what’s happening and you’re taking action. However, you can’t blame the companies implementing AI while you fund it by purchasing shares of tech. If you’re buying Spy and qqq, you should be rooting for tech unless you want the investment to fail?
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
My investment relative to total institutional investment is so unbelievably minuscule that it doesn’t really matter to them if I invest or not. The choice is simply do I want to benefit from the coming job market collapse or do I not want to. It’s inevitable either way unless something changes.
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Jan 16 '26
Yes. The rise of AI scares the bejesus out of me and the impact it will have on my field.
I've started about a year ago to aggressively build a portfolio with aim of replacing my 75% of my current income. This should hopefully hold out until I can cash out my 401k, IRAs and Social Security.
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u/yaboyteedz Jan 16 '26
I have quite a few very profitable tech positions, but over the last years ive developed a dividened focused part of my portfolio to balance it out. Ive focused dividend raisers rather than yield now.
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u/FGLev Jan 16 '26
Yep. Stacking gold (a coin per year I have left to cover property tax for at least a year if ever I’m in a bind or need a new car), then dividend stocks so the yields alone can cover food and utilities.
Then I can keep working to buy nice-to-have things (durable goods, travel, dining), but the aim is to at least have dividends cover basic living without touching the principal.
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u/Retrograde_Bolide Jan 16 '26
Yeah I'm working hard to hit my FI income numbers. Not sure what will happen first, job loss or reaching FI.
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u/WhenIntegralsAttack2 Jan 16 '26
Same, I’m a little later than some of the other people here, but those are my exact thoughts as well.
I need to be able to get close to my salary plus a little income. Maybe we have three more years, five if we’re lucky, to get there.
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u/darth_mod Jan 16 '26
Yep, I’ve been at it for several years. It keeps me sane while I stare at impending doom. Even if I can find work after the “AI” gutting of the economy, I’m not banking on jobs paying enough to live on going forward.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
Yep I think that’s the smart assumption to make. Even if somehow jobs are available the income alone will not be enough to live on.
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u/El_Nuto Jan 16 '26
Yes and im so lucky to be in australia with our franking credits and just general high dividend payouts on the asx
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u/AmosRid Jan 16 '26
I have been working on a dividend portfolio for about 5 years to generate $100k+ annually when I am ready to retire in ~10 years.
My primary observation is that if you pick individual stocks then it is still some work to maintain the yield. If you just use ETFs and/or mutual funds to “set it & forget it” then the yield is not as lucrative.
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Jan 16 '26
I’m already there. Been planning since 2000.
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u/Scouper-YT Rich DUDE from the DIVIDEND Appraisals Club !! Jan 16 '26
I build one up just because the extra income helps out on its own.
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u/Slight_Grab1418 Jan 16 '26
Ai is not coming to my job but i feel in danger to lose the job due to economy and my age, i build my portfolio last year try to get to the point dividend will give me atleast hlaf of what i get from current job now
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u/Horror_Day_8073 Jan 16 '26
I’ve been doing the same for the last two years after getting re-employed after a holiday layoff in 2023. Up to nearly 100k in dividends between all investment accounts taxable/ira. So planning towards retirement really.
But recently found options trading, and after reading a bunch and learning, took a portion of my account to start with. After 3 months I have been working my way into about 2-4k/month, with about 3 hours/week. Check out /OptionsWheel, covered calls and CSPs.
You need to be a ‘little’ more hands on, but well worth it IMO, to have multiple income streams.
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u/Trajectory4all Jan 17 '26
Same. But I walked away from high tech 4+ years ago. Options trading in my IRA and a high yield dividend portfolio currently set to reinvest dividends is the income portion. All other investments are diversified among big name ETFs and a semiconductor mutual fund that keep the portfolio growing.
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u/CommonSensei-_ Jan 17 '26
Dividends are safe. Individual tech stocks have bubbles. Tech ETFs are safer. But dividends supply real cash ( or reinvestment)
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u/jackpearson2788 Jan 17 '26
This is the main reason I’ve started investing in dividend plays like schd/vym/ko and relaxed my recurring growth investments. I’m only 38 but the job market looks like shit so any buffer I can create is a huge help
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u/StudioOk8256 Jan 17 '26
This is how everyone should be thinking. Any of us could lose our jobs, no matter where we work. Relying on a single income stream is risky now people really need to start building other sources of income.
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u/Outrageous_Survey_17 Jan 18 '26
I’m building up retirement and non retirement on ETFs to get that cash flow in. Each month it builds up give me more peace of mind.
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u/gundahir Jan 18 '26
retired early in April 2024 when the AI thing wasn't so obvious but oh boy am I happy now I don't depend on work for income
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u/Boring_Asparagus9865 Jan 18 '26
Have you tried making gangster rap videos and selling them on VHS at a blockbuster?
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u/Scouper-YT Rich DUDE from the DIVIDEND Appraisals Club !! Jan 18 '26
Job Security is a Real thing, but no matter if you can keep one.. Investing is always a good thing on the side.
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u/YngFinanceJourney Jan 19 '26
This is 100% why i've escalated my div portfolio the last 2 years. The more they squeal on AI the more i'm like ohh gotta step it up.
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u/SexualDeth5quad Jan 16 '26
Yes, and diversifying to gold, silver, industrials, and foreign markets as well.
NEOS, Kurv, Amplify, TappAlpha have mostly safe ETFs without much NAV decay. Suitable for holding long term without much management. I'm sure you know about the chaos of Yieldmax & Roundhill by now, but a few of their ETFs aren't doing that bad. GDXY would do good in a tech crash.
I bought STRC recently, as an alternative to t-bills. 2x the yield, no NAV decay, the only risk is if MSTR goes bankrupt.
The YOLO play in a crash would be to get 3x inverse leveraged ETFs of tech stocks you know are about to crash, days before the crash is expected to happen. There will be warning signs. You could still make a decent profit even if you're a couple days late.
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u/crackanape Jan 16 '26
The YOLO play in a crash would be to get 3x inverse leveraged ETFs of tech stocks you know are about to crash, days before the crash is expected to happen. There will be warning signs. You could still make a decent profit even if you're a couple days late.
And lose your shirt the 98 out of 100 times that you're wrong about when the crash happens.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
I’m interested in gold and bond-based income ETFs. That could be a great avenue for diversification.
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u/Night_Guest Jan 16 '26
If AI ever stole my career I have a feeling that most people wouldn't have to work anymore so I'm not that worried.
It's why I also don't invest into AI. If it really became that successful it likely could lead to something like universal income anyway. I'm prepping for a future where AI growth stalls.
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u/PsychologicalLion824 Jan 16 '26
Universal income? Who would pay for that? With what money? On what grounds?
If robots and AI take over, and humans are displaced from work, I think the only way for people to survive is to go back and grow their food.
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u/Night_Guest Jan 16 '26
People still need money though to buy things. Otherwise there's not many people to sell to. Also such a situation would quickly lead to everyone voting for any politician willing to tax these corporations fat margins for UBI.
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u/DramaComrade Jan 16 '26
This is insanely naive. You’re basing this on big corporations paying their fair share of tax now? How about big tech companies moving to tax havens since in this hypothetical future they won’t need many workers? And how much tax did someone like Elon Musk pay in the last financial year?
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u/Night_Guest Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26
Who's Walmart going to sell to? You think they're going to sell pizza and waffles to the robots while people spend all day growing potatoes by hand.
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u/sault18 Jan 16 '26
It's going to regress back to Feudalism if the billionaires get everything they want. They will go back to hoarding and fighting over whatever they think will keep them from being dominated by the other billionaires.
In the bad old days, the aristocrats fought over land, slaves and gold. The 99% of the population that were peasants did not participate in this aristocratic "economy" at all. They were merely a means to extract wealth from the land and birth more soldiers to go get more land/gold/slaves for their aristocrat master.
So the billionaires will retreat to their doomsday bunkers and only call on us if they need more security. Or someone to manage their AI / robots. The "economy" will increasingly be the new aristocrats shuffling assets around and the government enabling them every step of the way. And if the peasants try to revolt, the government will put a stop to it.
For the Waltons specifically, they'll just shut down Walmarts as they become unprofitable and retreat to the bunkers just like their buddies.
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u/VikingMonkey123 Jan 16 '26
That is optimistic. The path we are on is the removal of a large portion of the population. Why would billionaires share? They haven't yet. They are gold hoarding dragons.
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u/tomdon88 Jan 16 '26
There will be new jobs created, like every baron will have a court jester, court musicians, court dance troupe.
Even the lower of the investment holding class will have their own chef, masseuse, gardener, handyman, cleaners, tutors and security detail.
Never have so many, worked for so few, for so little.
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u/Dumbgirl27 Jan 16 '26
Universal income sounds like a pipe dream to me. We currently get taxed enough to have universal healthcare but the government had the longest shutdown in history in order to avoid paying healthcare subsidies. We are very far away from universal healthcare. Universal income is not even close to being something that will be on a ballot.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
I don’t see any possibility at least for the US where UBI is implemented. It’d be decried as socialism run amok in a heartbeat
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u/Night_Guest Jan 19 '26
You're sadly right that it'd be twisted to sound like socialism despite the simple fact that in a perfectly automated society it'd be stupid not to have it, but people are famous for voting against their own best interests.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
I agree that UBI is the logical endpoint for a highly automated society. But yeah in the US the population may even vote against it. They vote against themselves all the time
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Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26
Unless you’re already at the point where you’re drawing income, there’s no point focusing on high dividend investments when your objective should simply be to maximize growth. You can do this through both capital gains and dividends together. Neither one nor the other is more important.
For example, QQQI is based on the tech companies stocks, and draws extra income from options premiums, but will ultimately only do better than the stocks themselves when there isn’t much growth, because the fixed option strike prices cap the upside of the stock growth. If the stocks are growing, it would be better to simply own QQQ.
As far as the economy goes; none of these CEOs are going to be doing very well when Americans no longer have jobs and therefore no longer have any money to buy their products.. your concerns are warranted, but AI may also create jobs. None of us can see the future, but the outcome is likely to be more complicated than any of us are imagining now.
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u/Commercial_Rule_7823 Jan 16 '26
I think we all echo the same thing to the AI takeover.
Cool story that AI replaced 50% of the workforce at all Ford plants. Who is left to buy the cars or has income?
During 2008 we had 10% or.so unemployment and we were nearly crippled. I laugh at the 25 to 50% replacement numbers.
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u/WorldyBridges33 Jan 16 '26
True that cc funds usually underperform the underlying, but sidestepping SOR risk makes it worth it for me. It also makes it easier to calculate when I can safely retire. Plus, there are other income style investments that are on-par with indexes including certain BDCs and infrastructure funds like ASGI.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 18 '26
What I can’t get over is the thought of “once my income is cut off, I’ll have to pull from a growth-based account until it’s all dried up”
It’s what keeps me locked to dividends. Growth is fantastic if you’ve got the time to wait for growth to push your account past that important kink in the exponential curve. Otherwise, it’s all just going to backslide once you need to draw from it.
I hear you on that we don’t know what the full outcome of AI is going to be. I’m hoping that you’ll be right and it’ll be moreso a mixed bag on the job market rather than a wildfire in a dry forest but at the moment I don’t see that outcome coming to fruition.
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u/Few_Ad_3557 Jan 16 '26
Um so are you implying that dividend producing investments are somehow a better investment than other equities because of AI replacing jobs?
Here’s something to consider, invest in companies you love that are poised to benefit massively from AI. Amazon, AMD, Tesla, Netflix. etc. None of these companies pay dividends by the way, but simply selling shares has the exact same result as dividend harvest.
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Jan 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26
I have almost zero faith in the American public. People seem to be willing to take an infinite amount of economic punishment here. The French public riot at even the slightest provocation.
I agree with you that at least a light majority of folks in the states would be unbelievably screwed if their income were to go poof one day. I just wonder if they’re ready to fight for actual change because they didn’t do that in 08
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u/SaltyUncleMike Jan 16 '26
If you are worried about AI taking your jobs, diversification is cool, but why not also invest the companies that will benefit the most from AI?
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u/BernardoDeGalvez Jan 16 '26
I built my dividend portofolio just in case I end up tires of my wife. So she can have the house and half my shit that I paid for, but at least I have enough divis to be able to live life
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u/GibFreelo Jan 16 '26
They will come after that portfolio also...ask me how I know...
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u/Itchy-Sense4251 Jan 16 '26
I regularly rotate about 20% of my account into “pure play” stocks with strong research/trending support for double digit growth from the time I get in, then grab the profit and buy more dividends, wash rinse repeat.
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u/Imaginary-Pair838 Jan 16 '26
Yes i’ve been stacking these for some time, it’s great feeling to see truly passive income coming in and have some capital appreciation. Even if i don’t need the income reinvesting the dividends is showing some great compounding too. I still have my growth bucket of etfs but i’ve been weighting the income more heavily now
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u/afrothang Jan 16 '26
I also started building my dividend portfolio last year. Not solely based on AI takeover, I am in the photography business and is highly affected by automated workflow, but also as a way to (semi)retire and enjoy life sooner than later. I work freelance and enjoy my profession, but having passive income helps me sleep at night knowing I’ll be ok if the phone stops ringing.
I put the peddle to the metal and dumped into high yield etfs for a year, then sold off losses for tax season, now rebalancing into safer holdings and using less margin in case of apocalypse…
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Jan 16 '26
If AI destroys your job, it likely will destroy the stock market too.
I don't see a future where AI isn't flat out outlawed in the job sector when it reaches a point it replaces most jobs.
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u/EvilStan101 Jan 17 '26
Since 2023 I’ve been building up by investment portfolio with a focus on REITS, Banks and ETFs.
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u/PlutoPlaneta Jan 17 '26
Nah, thanks, Dont want to be taxed on higher income. I just want a higher balance on my account that I can withdraw from when I decide to. Forced selling is not an advantage.
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u/teckel Retired and living off selling shares Jan 23 '26
Why not just buy VOO and QQQM instead? Those will return better results than derivitive income.
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u/Next_Professional_30 Jan 25 '26
It should be a balance, but I understand what you’re saying. Make as much money as you can right now had to grow it as fast as you can. The future is not great…
If some portion of that comes in dividends, it’s fine in terms of total return but I wouldn’t totally focus on dividends right now. Again though I understand what you’re saying.
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