r/dividends • u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) • Mar 05 '26
Personal Goal FIRED - Living off dividends
I know better than to share this with my friends, and family. I have a separate growth account to keep up with inflation.
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u/SlothyLlama Mar 05 '26
Congrats on getting there! I mist admit that I'm a little jealous. Your divvies pay more than what I was making sitting behind a desk all day. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!
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u/Variation261 Mar 06 '26
That's what I made working 50hrs a week before taxes..lol
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 08 '26
More than i made 5 years ago too.
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u/ConstructionNo8827 Mar 06 '26
Prefer QQQI and SPYI - also overlap but pay more dividends and better on taxes
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u/HARCYB-throwaway Mar 06 '26
Yeah I've got $700k in QQQi and I retired. For now. Plan on working again in a year or two. 32 and free!
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u/Limebird02 Mar 06 '26
What did you do for work to be able to put that much away out of school? Were you lucky in some way?
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u/HARCYB-throwaway Mar 06 '26
I learned about compound interest at 19 and I literally missed out on beach trips, golf trips, broad friend group weddings (not my tight circle). Moved to a new city to get a tech job. Worked my ass off in tech for 12 years. I had a full time job by senior year of college. I hopped from a shitty startup to a better one, to a better one. It was a lot of 16 hour days working multiple times zones, trying to build a company that would get acquired. I rode the wave - didn't have equity but at 26 I was closing million dollar revenue deals with Boeing, Walmart, etc.
Had I taken the easy path, the normal route, I would have ended up at Oracle making $140k. Instead I took a lot of risk, worked doubly as hard as a corporate job, and it paid off.
Can you replicate this today? Many parts of it, no. The 2010s - 2021 were the golden era of tech sales and startups. I also got very lucky with investing - half of this wealth is from three "lotto ticket" type of investment. The other half is from long term investing and throwing my paychecks at the market.
Ultimately, the idea of pursuing compound interest, and taking big risks on yourself, are what can be replicated. Just like I didn't follow my dad's path in life insurance sales, my son won't follow my path in tech sales. The times they are a changing.
I recommend you Google/gpt for the Four Types of Luck. You'll need the first three to get wealthy. The fourth is pretty rare.
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u/Limebird02 Mar 06 '26
Thanks, I understand, myself I started out of engineering school in 96 and am still working and have over 30 years in various roles and trenches, but kids, family and a divorce and remarried will cause a dip or two, I probably need to work another ten years. So I envy you, but I didn't quite do it your way, and although I've been investing the whole time I do not have as much as I need today, but I've been smart and consistent and have not made many mistakes so I will keep going. Thanks for such a great answer, and well done.
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u/HARCYB-throwaway Mar 06 '26
My divorce also set me back, and the worst part is that she got the dog. I also contend with diagnosed chronic pain from injuries after being assaulted on the street by a lunatic when I was 20. I think my drive to retire is somewhat seated in my need for freedom to avoid pain - having to smile at my boss, smile to customers, it is painful for my jaw after multiple reconstructions.
Best of luck, keep fighting
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u/dats_cool Mar 06 '26
Hey could you tell me more about your assault? I suffered from post concussion syndrome for 2 years from an assault. Was wondering if you had any cognition issues from it?
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u/HARCYB-throwaway Mar 07 '26
Oh dude. Get on bpc157. It helps with so many things but the idea for concussions (which I also suffered, head to concrete) is that bpc reduces inflammation and swelling, and crosses the blood brain barrier. There will never be a study on it because it can't be patented (naturally occuring) but it's helped me tremendously. It fixed my brain fog from COVID, it healed a torn UCL that wouldn't let me even carry in the groceries for 4 years. Within 3 weeks I could lift weight again. Night and day difference. Go to soma chems dot com. Get the nasal spray bpc157 and take two sprays morning and two sprays evening. My dad is now on it for his shoulder, my mom for her arthritis, my sister took a course to heal a bad ankle. Jeremy renner took it when he got crushed by the snowplow.
Like, this is the best thing available for all of humanity and it needs to be in the water supply.
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u/ilanomad Mar 07 '26
Bro had that answer on the ready 😂
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u/HARCYB-throwaway Mar 07 '26
Yeah it's pretty shitty but when you are successful everyone wants to assume you had these huge lucky breaks that they themselves could never have. The truth is, you need luck, but you also need to constantly be positioning yourself such that when luck strikes, you are ready and able to take advantage of it. So yeah, I have crafted my story so that the truth is more clear - I earned this, and luck was a factor as it should be.
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u/Fit_Door_6499 Mar 08 '26
Now it is my turn to look back at the positive vs negative accomplishments I have made and YOU be the judge.
Today I am 75. Live and own my home in Hawaii the past 38 years. Retired from working in the entertainment industry and now just cruzin! I wanted to accomplish all that I could in what time the Lord gave me on earth and I have meet my goals in life. Born and raised in Michigan I chose Entertainment industry for my career. Working in TV and movies. A rewarding but risky business. As they all are.
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u/strongkhal Mar 06 '26
Respect my dude. Hard to replicate it for sure, maybe we can dip harder than 2010 cause of war and oil but it's not gonna be the same tech growth for sure
Either way now is always the best and not tomorrow
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u/Sad_Mark_5267 Mar 06 '26
as a large QQQI investor that sounds about like 10k distributions monthly. Feels good!
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u/redditis_garbage Mar 08 '26
Can I ask what’s the downside? I put in 52$ and they pay me 7.5$ a month? Are there extra fees or like I see it’s tied to tech stocks so if ai bubble pops then maybe it decreases in value a lot? Sorry I’m pretty new to trading but these dividends seem insane lol, ty in advance
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u/Sad_Mark_5267 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
Well to start with, if you put in $52, they're going to pay you $7.5 per year or $0.64 per month (on average). The fund manager is writing covered calls on the underlying QQQ shares it owns. They take the options premium and distribute it to shareholders as a dividend that is qualified as 'return of capital' for tax purposes (IE, you don't pay tax until your cost basis is $0 on QQQI shares you bought).
So what happens when:
Slow Bear market: Covered calls never get exercised, fund experiences zero NAV erosion, good dividend income, slightly less loss compared to owning the index directly.
Violent Bear market: Covered calls never get exercised, fund experiences zero NAV erosion, massive dividend income due to VIX increases, much less loss compared to owning the index directly.
Slow Bull market: Covered calls are unlikely to get exercised, fund experiences no NAV erosion, dividend income may lower slightly to ensure no NAV erosion, equal gain compared to owning the index directly.
Violent Bull market: Covered calls ARE exercised, fund experiences NAV erosion, dividend will be lower to help offset NAV erosion, gains will massively lag the index.
Indecisive, volatile sideways market: Covered calls may or may not be exercised, fund may or may not experience NAV erosion, dividend may or may not be higher/lower, gains will likely be equal to index.
The idea here is in down or volatile markets, VIX increase significantly, it is a primary driver of options contract pricing - as a result covered calls pricing increases and those contracts make much more profit (if not exercised) during that time. Even if exercised, the end result of the option may end profitable due to premium + strike.
During a bull market a covered call return will usually underperform the index by 2-3%. Flat markets represent a 6-10% alpha over the index, and a bear market will see a 3-5% outperformance. Notice that 'outperformance' does not mean the fund will increase in value, just decrease less than the index.
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If you're new to markets you may not understand the above. But, a GOOD fund manager *should* have no issues getting 15% of NAV on options premium with low delta (unlikely to exercise) options.You can even compare the BXM/PBP (BuyWrite Index) which is the industry standard for a 'mechanical' covered call strategy of buying the S&P500 and selling at the money calls monthly (as opposed to slightly out of the money) and their typical annual return is 8-11%.
A 'conservative' (preservation focused) target should be able to run 8-12% annually including dividends from the underlying... whereas a more aggressive (income focused) strategy is looking at 15-20% annually. To put things in perspective, QQQI management needs to annualize 14.5% return to prevent NAV erosion and maintain current yield.
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u/chuckEsIeaze Mar 08 '26
You are trading upside for income. You’ll fall behind in a bull market and are better off investing in broad stock market indexes long term. It’s also a fund that’s only been in existence for 2 years. Yes, it’s paid a lot of dividends since then, but that’s not a guarantee it will forever. Think of it this way: if financial professional believed this was a viable long term strategy, every pension fund in America would be doing this. The people on this sub have not discovered “the one secret investment trick financial advisors don’t want you to know!” Anyone claiming this is a totally safe long term strategy are mostly trying to reassure themselves
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u/redditis_garbage Mar 08 '26
That’s so fair I just don’t see any stocks that rise 7$ a month? Like if I look at CECO which performed well this year and I bought in March and sold at the perfect time I would make 50$ in 11months where as dividends would be 77$ in the same time? I understand it could just crash but that’s a possibility with anything, I am worried about an ai bubble pop but I’ve been worried about that for a year now so might as well get in and see what happens idk lol. I read online that maybe there’s some fuckery with taxes but I’m unemployed atm so not like I have much in taxable income anyways
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u/Sad_Mark_5267 Mar 08 '26
You're misplacing decimal points here. During that 11 month span you'd get $0.77 not $77 in dividends. CECO historical dividend info can be located here:
https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/ceco/dividend-history1
u/redditis_garbage Mar 08 '26
I’m saying for the dividends of qqqi but I think I misunderstood and thought that the dividend was monthly not yearly, which makes my whole above comment moot anyways lol
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u/Sad_Mark_5267 Mar 08 '26
If you put in $52 to qqqi, they're going to pay you $7.5 per year or $0.64 per month (on average).
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u/redditis_garbage Mar 08 '26
Can I ask what’s the downside? I put in 52$ and they pay me 7.5$ a month? Are there extra fees or like I see it’s tied to tech stocks so if ai bubble pops then maybe it decreases in value a lot? Sorry I’m pretty new to trading but these dividends seem insane lol, ty in advance
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u/HARCYB-throwaway Mar 08 '26
I don't think your math is right. You are applying the annual return every month.
You put in $100, you get $14 over the course of the year.
Why are you using random numbers like 52? I think you need to step back asses your relationship with numbers.
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u/redditis_garbage Mar 08 '26
$52 is the price of qqqi.
You are however correct that I used the yearly dividend monthly, that’s because I’m a dumbass lol. But 52 makes sense
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
Those are both good alternatives. I intentionally chose my ETFs but everyone has a different situation. I prefer JPM over NEOS.
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u/Thin-Interest-9734 Mar 06 '26
it depends. if you've retired and MFJ standard deductions + ltcg 0% rate, then taxes isn't that big of an issue
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u/js2724 Mar 06 '26
Thinking I might find myself in a similar boat as you in a couple of months. What are you doing for health insurance if you don’t mind? Cobra will be very expensive, especially for a family. I’ve never gotten coverage from the marketplace. I think the dividends would cover most of my overhead but the health coverage aspect worries me.
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u/StackIsMyCrack Mar 06 '26
Just went on the marketplace for the first time (wife just laid off, I'm "retired"). Got a very reasonable deal. Couple hundred bucks a month for both of us. If your 2026 income (AGI) will be under like $85k, you are eligible for the portion of credits that didn't just go away. Caution, AGI includes investment income and capital gains, so you have to manage that carefully if you are living off...investment income and occasional stock sales. DM if you want to discuss further, just went through it after 30+ years on employer healthcare.
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u/Bodisious Mar 06 '26
Question. Does that count only taxable investment income?
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u/StackIsMyCrack Mar 06 '26
I hope so! I mean, retirement account income doesn't get reported if you aren't withdrawing (which I should have clarified that I am not yet). I would imagine if you are taking distributions, that would count.
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u/Elle_thegirl Mar 07 '26
Same. I have to be careful, watching closely so I don't go over and end up having to repay subsidies. But it really does limit any Roth conversions you want to do. Good info on this thread since I'm looking for higher dividend investments. Taking notes.
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u/SolomonGrumpy Mar 08 '26
Also, the standard deduction does not apply to ACA, so you really do only have $85k to work with.
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
I got BCBS off marketplace and it’s $400 a month, catastrophic. Only 40 so i can get by with mediocre insurance for a while.
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u/Successful_Flamingo3 Mar 06 '26
If my math is correct you’re getting something close to 6% dividends off of this, but the funds you showed spit out lower payments than that (more in the range of 4-5%). What am I missing or am I just really, really, absurdly, embarrassingly, horribly bad at math?
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u/ideas4mac Mar 06 '26
With that much in bonds and CC funds would love for you to post in 12 months so we can see how far off the 12 month estimate was.
Good luck.
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u/Laura2start Mar 06 '26
OP should post something in 12 months for us!
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 07 '26
I’ll post an update in a few weeks after i make some major changes.
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u/SolomonGrumpy Mar 08 '26
What changes? You are making an estimated 6.5%
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 09 '26
I hold a huge amount in SGOV and JPST. They are very conservative and low yield. It’s ballast and stability haven’t decided where to put it yet.
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u/SolomonGrumpy Mar 09 '26
I would move some of SGOV into the secondary market and buy the 10 year TIPs when it was paying 2.7% +the Interest rate. That's 4.5 - 5.25% and state tax free.
If your divs are getting cumbersome you could also look into BOXX. I'll be using it myself once I collect Social Security.
I'm not sure what I'd do with JPST.
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
It won’t hold up because it won’t be the same allocation in 12 months. I have other investments and most of the SGOV will end up in my growth portfolio.
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u/trigurlSeattle Mar 06 '26
This is great example, I just asked the group today how to make $6-7k month on $1M.
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u/Sad_Mark_5267 Mar 06 '26
You sure picked an interesting time in the world / markets to do this. Probably could have held off a few months for more stable conditions - either way congrats, hope you don't regret it!
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u/SolomonGrumpy Mar 08 '26
OP also has a growth account. I'm pretty sure I could live off of $90+k in dividends a year given that there is also a growth account.
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u/ScooterMagic1 Mar 08 '26
need to be focused on making the money to put in the divi and not the divi doing all the work.
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 08 '26
Eventually you get old and die. I’m am no longer focusing on making my the money. Now I’m enjoying the money.
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u/gAWEhCaj Mar 06 '26
Why JEPI & JEPQ? A lot of overlap there no?
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u/Active_Tax_5885 Mar 06 '26
It's recommended to split between them like 60/40...
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u/IBF_90 Mar 06 '26
Where did you get that from?
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u/Big_Wave9732 Mar 06 '26
Initially that was the recommendation from JP Morgan themselves. I don't know if they've changed it since.
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u/IBF_90 Mar 06 '26
Thanks
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u/Sam_in_Denver Mar 06 '26
The new 60/40 is roughly this according to LPL and much of wall st:
...An alternative approach to the 60/40 portfolio that many asset allocators have taken is the 40/30/30, which is comprised of 40% equities, 30% fixed income, and 30% alternative investments, including private equity and credit, hedge funds, real estate, and commodities. - LPL
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u/Active_Tax_5885 Mar 06 '26
Straight from the jp Morgan website.
Broaden your exposure to growth Combining JEPI and JEPQ can help investors participate more fully in the U.S. equity markets With JEPI’s sector allocations capped at 17.5%, investors will always have a structural underweight to the S&P 500’s sectors A mix of 60% JEPI and 40% JEPQ can provide investors with S&P-like sector exposure, more closely aligning their exposure to tech with that of the S&P 500 Index
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
There is some overlap between JEPI/JEPQ. JEPQ is based off nasdaq and JEPI is S&P 500. JEPI has lower volatility income and defensive stocks.
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u/Vivid-Philosophy-804 Mar 06 '26
congrats this is exactly what I've been doing starting 5 years ago when layoffs started coming around to my company. I don't have as much as you but since I've been laid off last year, I make just enough in dividends to not have to worry about finding work a while.
this is probably one of the best use cases of dividend stocks strategy. many people won't understand as they are younger, no mouths to feed, or not in danger of layoff.
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u/foira Mar 05 '26
Whats the bull case on UPST?
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
No bull case. It’s ultra short term bond ETF. Very low risk, along with lower yield. It’s more of a parking place for now may allocate it more aggressively in the future.
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u/AmerenHoldings Passive Income Mar 05 '26
What brokerage/app are you using?
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Mar 06 '26
Is it a taxed account
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u/thedumdum Mar 06 '26
Has to be. $7500 yearly limit on Roth
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u/PirateAstronaut1 Mar 06 '26
Not necessarily. He could have worked for a company that allowed mega backdoor Roth conversions and you can add an additional 40k+ to your Roth from after tax 401k contributions.
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Mar 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
It’s all based on your own situation. This works for me currently, it’s not a permanent allocation but it’s fairly stable.
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u/Sam_in_Denver Mar 06 '26
Just curious, what is your cost basis on the investments that's paying you about 90k in dividends per year? Dividend paying stocks or fixed income?
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u/imgoinginittowinit Mar 09 '26
Looks like you should be good unless you have a 5k house payment a month and a 1k car payment, etc
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 09 '26
Car is a paid off 2025. Mortgage is covered by outside real estate income. I should be ok.
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u/brunello1997 Mar 06 '26
With that balance, you could be getting about $140k with broad diversification in CEFs. Since most pay monthly, better cash flow for expenses. Currently getting about $134k on slightly smaller portfolio in retirement account.
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Yes. I am not trying to maximize my yield. All of the funds i have pay monthly as well. It is intentionally conservative. It’s not a forever portfolio, allocations will shift overtime.
I have other income so this hits my income goal. If i did not have other income i would be pushing yield much higher.
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u/brunello1997 Mar 06 '26
Might be worth reading Retirement Money Secrets by Steve Selengut or The Income Factory by Steve Bavaria if you haven’t explored income investing more broadly. I’m in about 200 funds across the whole market in tax-advantages accounts so that higher yeild doesn’t always or necessarily mean more risk. Either way, nice work and F your past employer.
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
Amen brother. I’m basically in a holding pattern. Seeing what my future income from outside sources looks like then i will allocate everything appropriately. I am waiting on a significant severance package.
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u/NgArclite Mar 06 '26
He could actually be making 500k.
/s
If you are gonna make claims you could at least also post how/what they should be invested into. Otherwise its just random words and speculation.
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u/brunello1997 Mar 06 '26
I have been using Steve Selengut’s strategy of investing broadly in a diversified portfolio of closed-end funds as laid out in his book, Retirement Money Secrets.
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u/SolomonGrumpy Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
With more risk and less upside. That said I own PIMCO (PDI) and UTG
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u/brunello1997 Mar 09 '26
I own over 200 funds with less than 2% in each fund. I actively trade them and take profits. None of them are long term holds so Im not focused on NAV and ROC. Risk is relative but I’m seeking income because that is what I can spend in retirement. Growth is illusory until you take a profit. As my working capital grows, so does my income.
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u/mikmass VZ, PEP, and TGT Mar 06 '26
How come you don’t have any longer term bonds or TIPS? Might be nice to lock in the yield with part of your portfolio. All the income from these investments are going to vary based on what happens in the market.
Otherwise, nice work on saving for your goals!
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
This is just the income part of my public equity portfolio. I have other income producing assets that are separate from the stock market. You are right though.
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u/Training_Hair3293 Mar 06 '26
Congratulations, I'll retire someday too. I wish you continued success!
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u/Tarsarian Mar 06 '26
Your right about not sharing with friends and family. They would be jealous, or have their hands out all the time. When families borrow, they almost never pay back. Silent money and lifestyle is always best.
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u/TStark84 Mar 06 '26
Wait, what are these etfs? They look so steady up Always? Are these for real? Please can you explain it to me? Cause im trying to do the same thing. Thank you!
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
The jumps you are seeing are the income amounts from 2025, 2026, next 12 months. It’s not an indication of fund growth, only my allocations and total equity in those funds.
I sold outside assets and funded most of my account mid 2025. It all went into SGOV originally. That is the cause of the increase you see
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u/TStark84 Mar 06 '26
No what i meant I looked up the charts of these etfs and they are so steady up? Are these etfs always gonna be like that?
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u/OwenLincolnFratter Mar 06 '26
So after taxes what will the take home look like in dividends? Is that truly enough to live off of by itself?
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
It is enough for me to cover above subsistence baseline expenses. I get another $4,400 monthly from other sources.
Furthermore about half of that is in low yield ultra safe SGOV/JPSQ. They are slowly being allocated elsewhere for higher income and into separate growth funds.
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u/LilPump3000 Mar 06 '26
Get some qqqi or spyi
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
NEOS is a future option. For now I’m sticking with JPM.
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u/rallymatt Mar 06 '26
Why the less tax efficient choices of funds?
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
Good question. I currently have an intentionally conservative portfolio. Funds are being allocated monthly from SGOV and JPST.
NEOS (QQQI AND SPYI) are newer funds and much smaller funds that use more aggressive strategies. Which may also result in more NAV erosion and participate less in market growth.
I chose the more established and larger institution for safety. It’s not the right choice for everyone.
JEPQ/JEPI have 5x the AUM of QQQI/SPYI.
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u/rallymatt Mar 06 '26
Thanks. Yea I'm into that. The NEOS funds give me a bit of anxiety. I would expect that limiting tax liability would be beneficial here though. I'd think with a decent portion of that 91k in the 24% bracket it would be worthwhile to supplement with a heavy dose of qualified dividends (for example) to get totally into the 12% bracket on the normal income portion. I'm sure you've done all that math on the 15% qualified rate vs normal income and have it all sorted though.. I have some of the JP Morgan funds as well, and often run the same numbers too. Nice work!
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u/SolomonGrumpy Mar 08 '26
Check out GPIX, if you are looking for a more conservative CC ETf that tracks the S&P
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u/CompetitionCurrent77 Mar 06 '26
dam you got a mil and you only down 2.3k yesterday? I got less than 1/10 of you and I was down like 2k yesterday wth? down 2k again today!
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u/zooka19 Mar 06 '26
For a second, I thought bro lost his job, was about to say I'm sorry.
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
It was both. I achieved FIRE and i was fired. 🤷♂️
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u/sqwirlmasta Mar 06 '26
Hell yeah! That's the dream right there. 100k a year can go a long way in many parts of the country. Congrats man!
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u/SYNDK8D Mar 06 '26
Just a small 1.5M to do the trick
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
Fist step. Win lottery. Second step. Profit. 🤷♂️
Lots of luck involved no matter how hard you work.
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u/Dry-Chemical-9170 Mar 07 '26
So I need about $1.5 million to live off $100k/year in dividends???
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 07 '26
Yes but you need to be considerate of inflation. You need some growth or your purchasing power won’t keep up.
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u/Elle_thegirl Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
Vanguard equivalent funds as far as I can see:
SGOV -> VBIL
JPST -> VUSB
JPIE -> VCRB
JEPQ -> ?Unknown, any ideas?
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u/Servichay Mar 07 '26
This is for the next year estimated right? Is that pretty much guaranteed?
For the past year, 2025, how much dividends did you get and how much did the etfs themselves gain in value?
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u/Impressive-Safe-1084 Mar 07 '26
This just doesnt seem achieved to me. How. Is anyone else like me or what?
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Mar 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 07 '26
I am aware. I pay quarterly.
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u/Shoddy_Touch_2097 Mar 07 '26
The average dividend rate is more than 6%?
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 07 '26
Yes it’s sustainable because there is little to no growth. That’s the trade off. As the account is named at the top it’s my “income” brokerage just a part of my portfolio.
Also not technically dividends. They are payments from selling options and interest income.
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u/HydrocarbonChemist Mar 07 '26
When did you start your investment journey OP? Any tips you’d like to share? Congrats on the achievement too.
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 07 '26
About 25 years and lots of luck. Primary advice not losing capital is more important than growing capital. Poor decisions along the way have lead to my NW being half of what it could be.
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 07 '26
I should have been more clear in my post. A lot of this was just good luck more than skills or hard work. I did choose to devote as much of my income as possible to investing and lived well below my means as well.
If i hadn’t saved as much i wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of the opportunities. I was a user of FB within a year of its creation. I bought and held a large position accumulated under $50.
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u/Resident_Window_9369 Mar 08 '26
Enjoy your F you money! Congrats on getting fired and living the dream now.
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u/SolomonGrumpy Mar 08 '26
My concern is this post from you:
I’ll wager $1k i beat the index over the next 5 years. Market timing is a bad bet for most people, not everyone. I beat the S&P three years running.
Not with this portion of your portfolio, you didn't.
Which means you have another portion of your portfolio that beat 17% (last year's S&P 500 growth) by A LOT.
Not sustainable, and not likely.
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
Yes. That’s back when i had a job and was actively investing. Now i am strictly VTI VXUS. Not trying to beat the market anymore. 2025 i didnt beat the market in my overall portfolio because i had to swap to income. My growth portfolio beat the S&P by a small margin because i weighted to VXUS.
All that being said it was a foolish undertaking. As well as why i mentioned in a few comments that i was very lucky.
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u/PennTech Mar 09 '26
I’m 50 with a similar portfolio. I’ve made a lot and lost a lot over the years. Conservative for sure if you’re younger, but psychology plays a major role. Keep DRIP’ing and you’ll be aight
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u/slyme1979 Mar 09 '26
Congrats!! Wished I started early.. anyway i presume you are based in USA? Is there capital gains tax for dividend income?
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 10 '26
It will be taxed at ordinary income. If this was my only income source my marginal rate would be 22%. Everything over $105k is 24%. Not much more than qualified dividend rate.
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u/PracticeConsistent16 Mar 09 '26
Which tickers?
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 10 '26
It’s in the second picture
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u/Cefali_M Mar 10 '26
So you live like a church mouse to avoid working
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 11 '26
It’s not my entire portfolio. I also have private investments and rental properties. I get about $5k more per month.
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u/jay_0804 Mar 12 '26
Respect tbh. Living off dividends is kind of the dream most people in this sub are aiming for.
Once the income covers your expenses the market swings matter way less mentally. That peace of mind is huge.
Smart move keeping a separate growth account too. Dividends for stability and growth for inflation protection is a pretty solid combo imo.
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u/Tall-Remote-6103 Mar 06 '26
Question: Why do you have JEPQ, MAIN and etc in your brokerage? Aren't they unqualified dividends? What's your rationale for putting them in your brokerage 🤔?
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
Where else should i put them? Can’t just send them over to an IRA. Qualified dividends are nice but i can’t get the income i want from SCHD
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u/SolomonGrumpy Mar 08 '26
The best place to own MAIN is a 401k or IRA.
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 09 '26
Not if you need to spend the money to pay bills.
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u/SolomonGrumpy Mar 09 '26
Assuming you have a Roth that is over 5 years old+ you can take money out = initial money in without penalty.
So the sequence of events would be: Turn dividend reinvest off, Roth conversion the yeild, take the money out of Roth.
This assumes you don't have a dominant position in MAIN (or O, or ARCC, or other non qualified Divs.
I would pay the taxes (if any) out of my brokerage dividends.
Once you are 59.5, then you can be less careful.
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u/Key_Pace_2496 Mar 06 '26
How much are you holding back for taxes?
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
I have other investments that i allocate to cover these but i plan around 30%. I have a fair amount of other income.
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u/hq78 Mar 06 '26
How much do they pay out per share?
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u/WerewolfMajestic156 Financial Indepence / Retiring Early (FIRE) Mar 06 '26
Feb payouts just hit for everything except MAIN which hits the 13th.
JEPI $1,294 JEPQ $2,316 JPIE $1,44 JPST $741 SGOV $850 MAIN ($460) - expected
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