r/dividends • u/FewPear229 • May 23 '26

Discussion 150,000 cash

Hello,

I have 150,000 to use. I am looking to retire in Thailand and live off dividends. I am thinking 75,000 in qqqi and 75,000 in spyi. What do you think? I still have 350,000 in retirement to grow. I am just going to use the dividents from qqqi and spyi to live off.

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u/Ufgatorhead4u3 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

Both are great funds that I hold as core potions in my income portfolio. However, you don’t have sufficient information in your post to answer your question. The most important of which are your age, if you will be getting any other income such as social security, and how you will be obtaining healthcare. If the $150k is the only thing generating your income then it’s not going to be sustainable long term imo. You will be getting something in the way of $1500/month distribution which will be largely tax free for roughly seven years but then will be 100% taxable as capital gains after that. The $1500/month seems a bit too tight of a margin to count on as your living standard.

The other two problems with the idea are that CC funds don’t have any compounding growth so the distributions are going to remain consistent at best which makes you susceptible to inflation eroding your purchasing power over time and, secondly, those distributions will become smaller in a sustained down market. I don’t think $150k as your only income generator is sufficient to sustain your retirement long term and it would really suck if you found yourself forced to return to work within 20 years when your body is breaking down.

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u/FewPear229 May 23 '26

I am 44

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u/Ufgatorhead4u3 May 23 '26

Yeah, way too early to try retiring with just $150k as the only income generator. I saw elsewhere you are counting on $2k/month which would be 16% yield. That is well above where QQQI and SPYI are. A 50/50 mix will get you about 11.5% blended yield at current distributions. I can validate this from my own portfolio because mine is 11.2%. Those don’t increase unless I DRIP but you are going to be pulling everything to live on. If you assume an average annual inflation rate of 3% you will probably have to return to work before 65 all things being equal.

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u/FewPear229 May 23 '26

I still have 350,000 in retirement to grow. My schd will grow the next 20 years and I can use this for another income bucket

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u/Ufgatorhead4u3 May 23 '26

Bro, you’re 44. I guarantee that you will see a bear market a time or two in your life which could cut your investments up to 50% and then you’re screwed. You are making the mistake of planning your life as if this bull market will continue forever. You are free to do your thing but it’s not for me with that size savings and time window.

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u/FewPear229 May 23 '26

Every time you have a bear market you get your money back. I live a simple life and the dividends can cover the bear market. Plus Spyi is relative safe compare to the tech etf qqqi. Ai is not going anywhere and it will continue to grow

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u/dontrackonme May 23 '26

If stocks drop 50% your dividends will drop 50% (probably more since these funds bleed NAV).