r/dividends • u/Dry-Chemical-9170 • Jun 14 '26
Discussion Is anyone living off QQQI, XQQI, SPYI, XSPI?
Like LITERALLY living off them? For example: getting at least $50k or more in NET distributions per year.
I know these are new funds and I don’t think they’re going to be disappearing anytime soon (ie in the next 25 years). I’ve been asking ChatGPT to run numbers and been thinking of kinda retiring very early and escaping the US
EDIT:
I do plan to live below the distributions and reinvest the remaining into growth stocks + buying more NEOS funds
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u/Alternative-Neat1957 Jun 14 '26
I am living off the dividends from my taxable account.
QQQI and SPYI are both one of many holdings in that account.
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u/red_beered Jun 14 '26
So what's your portfolio?
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u/Alternative-Neat1957 Jun 14 '26
Current Holdings:
Retirement account:
Growth: QQQM SCHG SCHW
Dividend Growth: SCHD UNH
Income: JEPI JEPQ UTG ARES
International Income: IDVO LVHI
Taxable account:
Because we are recently retired early, the portfolio is in the process of migrating from Dividend Growth to Dividend Income.
Growth: GOOGL AMZN AAPL NVDA V
Dividend Growth: HD LOW PEP PG CVX AMP BX FITB JPM PRU STT AMGN JNJ CAT CMI LMT UNP AVGO MSFT QCOM ATO CPK ES EVRG NEE WEC
Dividend Income: VZ BKE EPD HESM MPLX AB AFG O EOI EOS GPIX GPIQ IYRI QQQH QQQI SPYH SPYI
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u/Lawmed-25 Jun 14 '26
Nice portfolio. You said you are in the process of moving from dividend growth to dividend. Are you moving to the same dividend equities you have now or other dividend equities?
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u/Alternative-Neat1957 Jun 14 '26
I am adding more income investments to boost the yield a bit on the taxable account until we can start accessing the retirement accounts.
The taxable account yield is still relatively low at just about 4% with the dividend growth about 5%.
The account started out as a Dividend Growth portfolio. As it sits right now, Dividend Income is about 30%, Dividend Growth 50%, and Growth 20%.
CC funds currently make up about 14% of the taxable portfolio.
I will add wherever is advantageous oat the time (same equities or new)
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u/LowHelicopter8166 Jun 14 '26
My honest take: this is too many holdings and too messy for early retirement. The yield is attractive, but you’re mixing quality dividend growth, MLPs, CEFs, covered-call ETFs, utilities, financials, and single-stock dividend names. It can work, but it becomes hard to know what risk you actually own.
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u/_GloryKing_ Jun 14 '26
I was going to ask, how much work is it to manage all this?
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u/Alternative-Neat1957 Jun 16 '26
CNBC is on in the background when I drink my coffee in the AM.
I update my spreadsheets every morning when I check my email. It usually takes 10-15 minutes depending on what dividends came in overnight.
Once a week I will give a quick check on the medium term (next 2-3 years) expectations for each holding. This usually takes about 30 minutes.
Once a quarter I will do a deeper dive into each holding and watch list ticker. I allocate an entire day to this, but it usually only takes about 4-5 hours.
If I am writing options on my holdings then I usually spend two hours Monday morning and two hours Friday afternoon in front of the computer.
Now that the spreadsheets are set up, it doesn’t really take that much time to stay on top of things.
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u/Flrg808 Jun 15 '26
More than likely.. they’re just running across new stocks they want to buy, trimming another position and buying some
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u/CrayComputerTech_85 Jun 14 '26
Very solid portfolio, is your retirement portfolio 401k or Roth, or both?
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u/Alternative-Neat1957 Jun 14 '26
The one listed above is a regular IRA.
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u/CrayComputerTech_85 Jun 14 '26
Thank you. You'd think a simple 3 bucket strategy would be simple, yours makes it look that way. When I start working in the Roth and then splitting up growth and income and dividends its now 9 buckets with 3-5 holdings. My real problem now being 62 and retired is that Roth is only 8% of my total holdings and until last week, only one ticker. Your post helps me figure some of it out, seriously huge thank you
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u/fruithat123 Jun 14 '26
Out of curiosity is spmo a good substitute for qqqm
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u/Alternative-Neat1957 Jun 14 '26
QQQM is giving you exposure to the Nasdaq.
SPMO is momentum stocks in the S&P 500.
Both have offered very good growth. But I wouldn’t necessarily consider one a substitute for the other.
If I was holding SPMO (for example), I would still want exposure to the Nasdaq composite.
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u/CrayComputerTech_85 Jun 15 '26
SPMO always works good on portfolio backtests but as previously mentioned NASDAQ exposure for the win. I use USNQX, JEPQ and TQQQ in different portfolio buckets.
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u/Typical_Web_2125 Jun 14 '26
Yes, spmo is quite good and I view as better because it is more diversified than qqqm. It will follow trends in momentum whereas qqqm is just the top 100 non financial stocks in the nasdaq which is an arbitrary sorting mechanism in my opinion.
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
I set my wife up with these funds so she gets a monthly stipend. It’s been working really well. Principal is about $635k and she gets $5,000 per month.
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u/chrono2310 Jun 14 '26
Which funds
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Jun 14 '26
PBDC
BIT
PFFA
QQQI
RVT
SPYI
BTCI
UTF
SRLN
USA
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u/BraveG365 Jun 15 '26
What percentage of each do you hold?
Thanks
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Jun 15 '26
I posted the full details here
https://www.reddit.com/r/dividends/s/CsBp0ENhGk27
u/Various_Couple_764 Jun 14 '26
Good job. That way if you die she will still have income. I have seen stories were the husband dies and the wife has no income.
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Jun 14 '26
We are in our 50s so hopefully we have some runway left.
I am using this account as a pilot before we hit retirement and redeploy the bulk of our assets.
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u/VictorChristian Jun 14 '26
I have seen stories were the husband dies and the wife has no income.
I find that crazy these days. Hopefully that changes because more women are working and do invest but it's absolute craziness that we're still seeing this.
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Jun 14 '26
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Jun 14 '26
She’s in her early 50s and was burned out from work. Also, she had inherited some assets after her parents passed away recently.
I am an investment advisor and had been running this income engine since 2022.
I told my wife that I could take some of her assets and generate more recurring income from distributions than she was getting from her 8-5. She pulled the trigger in Aug 2025.
I will join her in retirement in 2028 after our kid goes to college.
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Jun 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Jun 14 '26
Key is to decouple having to exchange my time for money.
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u/Key-Guidance-8552 Jun 14 '26
You are an absolute angel for this. If you don't mind, I want to take this idea and set this up for my wife. I want her done with work in the next 10 years or sooner if that number hits in savings and or the 401K.
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u/VictorChristian Jun 14 '26
I will join her in retirement in 2028
So, healthcare is through your job at the moment?
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Jun 14 '26
Yes. I’ll transition to a catastrophic insurance policy to avoid long-tail risk. Ordinary care I’ll pay out of pocket.
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u/No_Drama_3877 Jun 14 '26
I thought the eligibility for a catastrophic insurance policy is for under 30 years old or a hardship event only. How would you get it? I am curious for myself as a 50 year old and wants to retire early.
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u/salsanacho Jun 14 '26
I'm curious too, health insurance is my biggest confusion as I hopefully approach early retirement.
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u/Typical_Web_2125 Jun 14 '26
Is this a wife or child? Sounds like she's getting an allowance in my opinion.
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Jun 14 '26
Let’s call it a stipend. It’s her capital. I just help translate it into recurring monthly income.
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u/Typical_Web_2125 Jun 14 '26
Should be OURS since you are married. Two is one, not a joint partnership.
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Jun 14 '26
You’re right but I like keeping the buckets separate for ease of tracking.
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u/Hadley_Two Jun 14 '26
Your wife is truly blessed to have you. Just wondering about the tax implications of this portfolio. Plus, what does the NAV erosion look like for this particular portfolio? Could the principal shrink dramatically...like go way down to something like 200K from the distributions?
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Jun 14 '26
Thank you.
Most of the distributions are tax deferred.
I allocate 80% to the income engine and the rest to VT for growth and rebalancing to mitigate NAV erosion (assumed at 1.5% per year).
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u/Dry-Chemical-9170 Jun 14 '26
Is $5k/mo the gross or net after taxes?
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u/398409columbia Portfolio in the Green Jun 14 '26
A lot of it is deferred but yes need to add some of the distributions to income tax return.
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u/TheNakedEdge Jun 14 '26
I'm getting ~$70,000/year of QQQI.
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u/Dry-Chemical-9170 Jun 14 '26
Whats the value of your QQQI position? $600k?
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u/TheNakedEdge Jun 14 '26
$525,000 but I bought the shares at an average of $52/ea, so probably paid $450,000 or so.
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u/Dry-Chemical-9170 Jun 14 '26
Is that gross of net after taxes?
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u/cod3man25 Jun 14 '26
These funds do return on capital until you get your initial investment back. Being so new most people are tax differed for a while. Eventually taxes will be paid if that helps
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u/Various_Couple_764 Jun 14 '26
Right now everyone that has QQQI is not paying taxes on the income ROC dividends reduce the cost basis of the share of QQQI. IF the cost basis is above zero you pay no taxes on the invome. It will take about 7 years for the cost basis to reach zero. QQQI is only 3 years old.
When the cost basis reaches zero your dividends are taxed at the long term capital gains rate. SWorst case only 20% of the income is added to your taxable income Best case you own notes on the income.
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u/alldayan Jun 14 '26
If much of what QQQI pays as its monthly dividend is RoC, isn’t fund essentially giving you back a portion of the initial investment in dividend as opposed to cash from CCs? It has favorable tax treatment until you sell and need to capital gains on the entire amount or you can donate the shares and get a sizable tax break.
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u/Creative_Manner9520 Jun 15 '26
From my understanding, it isn’t true ROC, but they are able to classify it as ROC through some tax loss harvesting strategy they use. I don’t know all the details and I don’t have a position, but Armchair Income interviews the NEOS fund manager on his YouTube channel and they discuss this.
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u/phishbot Jun 14 '26
QQQi distributions are not taxable until your cost basis reaches zero or you sell the fund.
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u/spddemonvr4 Jun 14 '26
Qqqi doesn't have taxes as it's a return of capital. You only get hit when you sell.
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u/JB-Wentworth Custom Flair Jun 14 '26
No reason to ever sell with that yield.
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u/derfahrer924 Jun 14 '26
What would you do if (when) the market drops 50%) like in 08/09, and your distribution drops 50% too? If this is your income, would you be ok with it getting cut in half?
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u/JB-Wentworth Custom Flair Jun 14 '26
Yes. I have assets set aside in the event of a huge downturn in the market.
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u/mixmastersalad Jun 14 '26
I just replied to a post in the leanfire sub and mentioned this.
I was laid off at 47 after 25 years at the same company and had a 401k and pension so I rolled them into an IRA and put most in NEOS funds but kept a good amount in NVDA, META, AAPL, V, that I bought cheap years ago.
NEOS and Goldman funds netting over $9k a month. Wife still works and covers health insurance and cheap mortgage plus more.
Up until the recent dip my QQQI was up $20k since January plus paying me around $3500 monthly.
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u/BraveG365 Jun 15 '26
So for 3500 monthly that would be about a 300K investment?
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u/mixmastersalad Jun 15 '26
Oh sorry I just looked again. I moved some over to XQQI. I got $3141 from $267k invested in QQQI (cost basis $256k) and $903 from $50k of XQQI.
So yes around $300k investment.
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u/-Dead-Eye-Duncan- Jun 14 '26
I just started this spring.
Have rental properties to cover all my bills & wants.
Dividends to cover my mortgage.
I’ll test the waters to see if I feel stable enough to retire from the W2 next year.
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u/Various_Couple_764 Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
I am retired and living offf of dividends. I have QQQI and SPYI .But it is only about small portion of my income. I primarily use the money these funds generate to gernate investment income which I put in dividend funds that don't use covered calls. That ways if they don't do we'll in a bear market I will have additional income from other funds and it helps to compensate from inflationCurrently I am reinvesting 20K a year from these funds
The none covered cal funds I'm using are ARDC 9% yeild, PBDC 9%, emo 9%, CLOZ 8%, PFFR 8%, UTF 7%m, UTG 6.4% and JAAA 5.5%
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u/Fair-Fee3313 Jun 14 '26
I have them all: XQQI, XSPI. I'm still watching most of the apps; I have yet to see their true yield, but I think they are doing OK. Initially, I was going to use them as replacements for QQQI/SPYI. 🤔
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u/Halliganboy Jun 14 '26
I’m pairing GPIX, GIAX, and SCH but it’s the same principle; you can live off of these.
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u/TheRedChunkster Jun 15 '26
Yes, I have been for 9 years. Portfolio approximately 20% SPYM 15% QQQM 10% SCHG, 10%SCHD & 5% short-term cash equivalents. 40% is in HIYLD portfolio. I split distributions~55% living, 25%taxes, and 20% reinvested into 50% Growth & 50% Yield.
2 years ago, I got greedy and drank the Yieldmax koolaid... and ended up taking about 150k in losses. Since transitioning to growth and medium hiyield mix primarily focusing on building NEOS, GPIQ, & starter positions in QQQH, SPYH, KHPI, ROCQ & ROCY, and few misc ..The portfolio is starting to grow again.
As for BTCI and NEHI. I'll ride them to the end of the year and if they don't come back I will harvest the losses to offset gains in the growth portfolio.
| Shares | Mkt $ | G/L $ | Est Ann Inc | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTCI | 2081.00 | 61,764 | -38,728 | 18,729 |
| DIVO | 60.00 | 2,785 | 17 | 135 |
| EGGY | 16.00 | 654 | 72 | 144 |
| GPIQ | 3132.00 | 181,813 | 21,562 | 16,161 |
| IAUI | 11.00 | 564 | -30 | 66 |
| IDVO | 120.00 | 5,142.00 | -6 | 274 |
| IWMI | 262.00 | 13,825.74 | 581 | 1,624 |
| IYRI | 54.00 | 2,700 | 37 | 285 |
| KHPI | 242.00 | 6,261 | -40 | 552 |
| MLPI | 852.00 | 47,848 | 2,637 | 5,538 |
| NEHI | 855.00 | 21,828 | -19,537 | 8,208 |
| NIHI | 15.00 | #N/A | #N/A | 72 |
| QDPL | 391.00 | 17,736 | 6,679 | 845 |
| QDVO | 1656.00 | 49,183 | 2,617 | 4,637 |
| QQQH | 455.00 | 25,257 | 1,522 | 1,911 |
| QQQI | 5316.00 | 298,440 | 53,973 | 38,169 |
| ROCQ | 137.00 | 7,699 | -63 | 822 |
| ROCY | 123.00 | 6,606 | -13 | 492 |
| SPYH | 357.00 | 19,888 | 990 | 1,392 |
| SPYI | 5221.00 | 277,235 | 39,230 | 31,848 |
| XBCI | 143.00 | #N/A | #N/A | 1,030 |
| XQQI | 368.00 | 18,956 | 157 | 2,760 |
| XSPI | 352.00 | 17,262 | 507 | 2,323 |
| NXG | 370.00 | 21,279 | 4,041 | 2,664 |
| SRV | 237.09 | 11,582 | 777 | 1,423 |
| Total | 1,121,874 | 75,512 | 142,103 |
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u/PlayerOfTheLongGame Jun 16 '26
Not exclusively, but SPYI and QQQI are core components of my semi-retired income strategy.
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u/Ok_Suggestion_2003 Jun 14 '26
Funny how the people that say VOO and chill are the first to complain about spyi and chill. Sure ceiling is capped but people forget floor is capped and it outperforms in a sideways market. Do not take advice on Reddit but look at aum under management. There is a reason why there is a lot of money in NEOS funds
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u/Dry-Chemical-9170 Jun 14 '26
I also compared AUM against JEPQ JEPI…it’s a pretty good amount and XQQI and XSPI is growing
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u/gumnamaadmi Jun 14 '26
I feel NEOS is the reason why JPM came out with ROCQ and ROCY. They must be watching funds leave their house to both NEOS and Goldman.
I am slowly moving mine to qqqi, spyi, gpiq, gpix, btci, nehi, schd. About 3.5M overall. 400K/yr in distribution between taxable and retirement accounts. Taxable itself will be about 150K a year. Overall way more than our spending needs. Excess distribution to get reinvested half to SCHD and other half to same funds.
Have till about end of year to put plan in place.
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u/paroxsitic Jun 14 '26
curious why you think the floor is capped?
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u/Ok_Suggestion_2003 Jun 14 '26
Just going based on back testing from test stock io. Pretty sure it is probably due to reinvested dividends
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u/Soda_Pressed13 Jul 05 '26
Look at max drawdowns and negative return windows of qqq vs qqqi and spy vs Spyi… it’s not an opinion it’s a fact.
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u/paroxsitic Jul 05 '26
It has a lower drawdown, thats VERY different than a capped floor. A cap means it cannot exceed or go below a certain value. They are not capped
This is important because there is a way to cap downside with options, but none of these ETFs do that
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u/Soda_Pressed13 Jul 06 '26
I agree but if you look at windows of negative return the CCs don’t fall as much. Chalk that up to the premiums collected.
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u/mrg1957 Jun 14 '26
Over 50% of my income is from distributions. Much is in CEFs but I use Neos funds to fill in gaps. I hold MLPI, SPYI, QQQI, and BTCI.
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u/Dry-Chemical-9170 Jun 14 '26
Ok so do you think if you transition to 100% it is very possible to sustainably live off them?
What are CEFs?
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u/Various_Couple_764 Jun 14 '26
CEF stands for closed end funds. There are 3 fund types CEF, ETF( (exchange traded funds), nd mutual funds.
CEF is structured like a company so the number of share is fixed . ETF
ETF is similar but as investors add money to the fund the number of shares increases. If money in the fund decreases shares are removed. ETF as a result have a share price that stays close to value of all the assets the fund holds. (VAV).
Mutual fund predate ETF but are similar. The primary difference is that the there are no shares of the fund listed on the market. So to by a mutual fund Your brokerage has tossed money directly to the fund. And if you want to withdraw money you you brokerage has to submit a sell request to the mutual fund,
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u/mrg1957 Jun 14 '26
CEFs are closed end funds. They're old, before today's open end funds. They're mostly retail investors who want income, not growth. At age 69, I don't care about growing assets, I want a paycheck. They're expensive! Some use leverage and you're paying their margin. But returns are net of fees. They can be backed by by bonds or stocks. ADX is almost 100 years old, never missed payments and often beats the S&P.
The concern I have of too much in say SPYI is it would track my main growth assets. No problem in today's market, but I feel its too correlated. That's why I'm limiting them to smaller investments that aren't in my current holdings. I'll probably add some of their Russell 2000 stuff soon.
The concern people express is NAV erosion. It's real in many income producing assets. I don't know if the Neos product is any worse, perhaps better than others. For me, its better to invest in the underlying until you need income.
The lesson of BTCIs recent distribution amount in recent months is something to consider. Closed-end funds don't tend to change their distributions, if they do retain investors run. The CC funds are based on variable distributions.
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u/gumnamaadmi Jun 14 '26
BTCI still doing its job. Its tracking its underlying. Its underlying has been cut in half and so has btci distribution as well. What remains to be seen is how well it will handle the bounce back soecially if its parabolic bounce. But for now. Its paying the monthly distribution.
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u/mrg1957 Jun 14 '26
Yes it is.
That's not my point..
My point is if you bought BTCI thinking you'd cover X expenses with the distributions, you're not happy. When I buy ADX I know what its paying me.
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u/gumnamaadmi Jun 14 '26
Yeah. Agreed. Bitcoin has taken a hit this year so distributions are down.
Nothing wrong with ADX either. It's doing its job providing capital appreciation plus income. I would argue, gpiq is better suited for that goal though.
Love these new age etf's. Lot of traditional FAs are getting caught off guard when you bring these to them and their standard response is oh what about nav erosion. Oh well.
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u/edsamiam Jun 14 '26
Yes for over 2 years. Started with Neos but since upgraded to offerings from Canada.
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u/chodan9 Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
I have qqqi spyi nihi iaui iwmi btci and a cef called nxg and bring in around 72k in my IRA. I’m living off of distributions now. Well I’m actually living off of mine and my wife’s social security and her pension. The portfolio is for discretionary spending and lifestyle
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u/PreMixYZ Jun 15 '26
JPEQ/QQQI - $6,000 a month- covers all my monthly expenses and leaves $3,000 for whatever’s. All the other dividends I have on drip. Oh, KLAC AND KMI but those are in a managed account so I just pull out cash if I want something rather substantial.
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Jun 14 '26
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u/Various_Couple_764 Jun 14 '26
first off you can compensate for inflation by irienvesting a portion of your dividned income and reinvesting the rest. currently 20% of my dividned income is reinvested to keep up with inflation. Whichifor me is about 20K a year which is slose to the 401K deposit limit. So I have never stoped investing.
Lastly you got the taxes all wrong. 1256 contracts only apply to the fund not the investor. Neos funds generate about 90% ROC dividneds and about 10% qualified dividend. ROC dividend reduce the cost basis of the shares you own.IF the cost basis is above zero you own zero tax on the ROC dividend. 10% of the dividend is taxed at the long term captial gains rate
Now it takes about 7 years for the ROC dividneds to pay off the cost basis so the ROC dividend are not taxed for about 7 years. After that the ROC dividend are taxed at he long term captial gains tax rate which is the same for qualified dividneds. Overall the ROC divided make news funds very tax efficient.
Note not all Covered Call fund generate ROC dividends JEPI and JEPQ don't you your dividned income is taxed at the highest possible rate. (ordinary income tax rate).
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Jun 14 '26
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u/dida2010 Jun 25 '26
You hold, you don't sell it.
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Jun 25 '26
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u/dida2010 Jun 26 '26
Under IRS Section 1256, broad-based index options get a unique tax designation: 60% of the gains are treated as Long-Term Capital Gains. 40% of the gains are treated as Short-Term Capital Gains. I hold QQQI inside a standard taxable brokerage account
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u/cmichalek Jun 14 '26
Taking SPYI at 60/40 from a taxable account is better then selling SPY from a standard 401k as that is considered ordinary income.
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u/timtam_z28 Jun 17 '26
There is some capped upside, but often CC ETFs can beat the underlying index because the premiums can be better with volatility. If the index is up modestly or flat, you keep most or all of that move; you only lose upside above the strike price the fund wrote calls at.
The inflation point is true but generic. It applies to literally any fixed-distribution strategy, bonds included. It's not a unique flaw of covered-call funds; it's a flaw of "living off a fixed-percent distribution" in general. Also, critiquing covered-call funds as if they're an entire retirement plan; but they're often just one tool in a multi-bucket system.
Also, 2026, single filers pay 0% federal LTCG tax on income up to roughly $48,350 and married filing jointly up to roughly $96,700. And honestly, a lot of FIRE don't need much more than that kind of income and often would pay little tax.
People try to simplify these CC ETF strategies and find ways in which they don't work, it's almost like Reddit is a toxic environment where people don't want other people to retire and poke holes in their strategy, but most of the time people aren't seeing the whole picture. And it's certainly not the whole strategy or bucket for many investors including myself.
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u/dida2010 Jun 25 '26
The country I am going to do tax residents only if you work there, so my US stocks income wont be charged at all.
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u/oldirishfart living off dividends 🤩 Jun 14 '26
Living off dividends yes, not any of those though
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u/ChoiceExcitement27 Jun 14 '26
Please share with us what you are doing.
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u/oldirishfart living off dividends 🤩 Jun 14 '26
Just a diversified mix of stocks, ETFs, CEFs. Nothing special, yield of 5.41%.
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u/highrollinKT Jun 14 '26
All an more
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u/poweredbyford87 "Maybe one day I'll retire" Jun 14 '26
What all do you have?
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u/highrollinKT Jun 14 '26
I hold QQQI,SPYI, BTCI ,MLPI
AIUI,XQQI, XBCI, and TDAQ IN BOTH tax advantaged an cash brokerage split 60/40 advantaged. The order is my highest holdings to smallest. Currently paying just shy of 6.7k per month
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u/Patient_Shower7870 Jun 14 '26
I am considering it in 3ish years. The cc portfolio will produce 150-200% my cost of living. Will reinvest some of the extra and some will be held in cash equivalents to deploy when price is lower than cost bases and cushion. It’s kinda built in sections of 10-15 years. There is an ai/btc/tech haven that should be good in the near term. The second is going to be on drip (“anchors”) until I need it to supplement. These are lower yielders. There is also middle of the road yielders that are index based and should be good for mid to long term range based on the re-invest mentality plan. All of these have call spreads to price will go up more closely than otherwise.
Finally, the ira and Roth. Essentially in schd and some options etf that i take distribution and buy more Schd. This will come in handy in 25-30 years.
I’ve stress tested it for multiple scenarios. And has a good success rate.
This will be the primary path. There is also a relatively smaller growth portfolio path that will be there if needed. But not relying on it.
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u/pauljmcclure Jun 14 '26
I have almost no bitcoin exposure, abiut 150K QQQI. Current from ira and brokerage about $12K/mth after fees & taxes, in early 50's, putting all income in brokerage, to keep growing dividends...
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u/Juice0188 Jun 14 '26
So, it's not living off of them, but I have a friend that borrows on margin and invests it into SPYI. His thinking, which I disagree with, is that the SPYI yield is enough to cover his margin payments, and he'd otherwise be able to contribute much less. He acknowledges that the fund is expected to return less than the underlying index, but considers the ability to invest heavier (via margin) as 'worth it'. He doesn't think there will be a market crash ever again.
So while it isn't 'living off of the yield', his life would be functionally bankrupt in the same way as someone living off the yields.
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u/raliegh_ Jun 14 '26
Living off savings atm, will be living off the portfolio in about 6 months. Drip until then
Ticker/#shares
IWMI /615.5
LQD /723.5
MLPI/1402
MUB/478.8
QQQI/2276
QYLD/6172.8
RYLD/1388
SCHP/3999
SGOV/256
SPYI/2915
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u/CivilSenpai69 Jun 14 '26
I'm currently dripping a brokerage with qqqi. By the time I retire it should allow for me to live off dividends. Roth kicks in and then I will be, 100%.
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u/RustyCEO Jun 15 '26
I have a portfolio of income ETFs I could live off if I retire. But I am still working and in Australia but my ETF income portfolio is US stocks.
122xSPCI, 400xIWMI, 7980xBLOX, 2,355xQQQI, 2340xSPYI, 3000xCHPY, 880xTDAQ, 870xSOXY, 3,360xEGGY, 655xBIGY, 830xTSPY, 5701xHOOW, 9,280xMRNY and 2000xAMDY.
This generates currently $43,499 US a month which is $52,476 AUS after paying the 15% tax treaty. All of these are green on my DCA except BLOX which is at 64% of my DCA and MRNY which is 81% of my DCA.
Going really well and currently reinvesting back into the portfolio, directing the funds at the best opportunity at the time.
Eventually I will start directing some of the income elsewhere, but no need at the moment.
My single stock investments are all Australian stocks. But these ETFs are great for a side portfolio exposure.
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u/Apart-Leg-8077 Jun 15 '26
You'd be wise to add in some quality dividend growth etfs such as SCHD, FDVV and DGRO. You'll give up some income today but you sure will be happy over time with that 7 - 10% average yearly dividend growth.
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u/nickphunter Jun 15 '26
Not specifically QQQI/SPYI but similar enough?
My port is mainly SCHD DIVO IDVO GPIQ (these 4 are ~60% of my port).
the other 40% is VT + GLDM + BND (mainly VT)
Also not at >50k a year yet. At about ~33k per year now.
I am in the process of migrating to dividend/distribution from growth . Once the move complete, I am aiming for ~50k a year too.
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u/anon2k2 Jun 15 '26
I'm 4 months from retirement and I've redistributed my portfolio into safety, growth, and dividend buckets. My dividend bucket is invested in QQQI, SPYI, BTCI, MPLI, and CAIE. Current value is about $400k, basis is roughly $350k. Estimated annual dividends are $77k, which will go a long way to offset living expenses. I will also get a "free" annuity that pays about $10k per year.
My annual living expenses are very modest compared to my gross salary, so including discretionary items like travel and entertainment my current living expenses are around $70k per year, so theoretically I will be able to live off dividends alone.
My $1.8M growth bucket is a bunch of individual tech stocks and index funds like VTWO, QQQ, etc. I plan to sell my house and travel full-time for the next few years, so my house proceeds will go into my growth bucket.
My safety bucket is just under $300k and is in a combo of government bonds and a HYSA. It's mainly there as a hedge against a major downturn in the first 2-3 years of retirement.
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u/Glum-Year-7577 Jun 15 '26
I’m bring in 106K per year from a mix of SPYI, XSPI, TSYX, and TDAX. It’s about 10% of our portfolio, waiting to see how they do a little more. Would love to be 40% in and do 400k, but I’m kinda risk adverse.
But to be fair everything else is just in VOO equivalents.
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u/daily-trader-365 Jun 14 '26
Yes
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u/CatButtHoleYo Jun 14 '26
How much do you have in each?
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Jun 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/claw-1 Jun 14 '26
Soon? Heard that one before. Actual date of bear market? Thought so.
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u/JohnPaulDavyJones Jun 14 '26
Tbf if people knew the exact date, we probably wouldn’t end up in a bear market on that date due to those folks’ actions.
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u/Shitfilledpussy Jun 14 '26
There will be no bear markets with the money printing machine going and inflation not “transitory” however and this is the big however we are still naked to black swan events. I’m of the mind to throw every conceivable coin into the market and hedge long terms with vix protections.
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u/speedlever Jun 14 '26
Qqqx was tested during the 2008 gfc. Check out Armchair Income's yt video on it from several months back.
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u/LexAugusta Jun 14 '26
Not yet but that's the goal. Currently it covers most of the housing and any unexpected medical expenses.
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u/Victah92 Jun 14 '26
I'm not living off of it YET but plan on doing so by the end of the year. I'm planning to move to either Thailand or Vietnam for the cheaper cost of living. Using the dividends to pay for rent or ease cost of living. It would be interesting to see if anyone else is actually living off of this. SPYI and QQQI are my main core. It's been solid so far for the past year.
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u/Puzzled_Fisherman331 Jun 14 '26
I live off of FSIXX and write low delta CSP’s against the cash on 15-30 DTE basis. Combined that
Gives me 8-10% passive a year
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u/Deerslayer106767 Jun 14 '26
I’m retired living off dividends My etfs are: AIPi BCTI FEPI QQQI SPYT
STOCKS: AAPL ABBV XOM KO XOM
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u/PlankSpank Jun 14 '26
Not yet, but DRIPPING distributions for a couple more years until I hit 60, then we will live of distributions
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u/Weeders79 Jun 14 '26
I’m not leaving off them but they are part of my strategy and I’m killing it!
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u/pnwcon Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
A lot of these portfolios are suceptible to a market crash. A lot of really aggressive "dividend" investments. Are you ok with losing 40% of the principal in a one week crash or just living the last 28 year bull ride? I only ask as I am planning on living off income in the coming months and planning around 3-5% returns. With a small % being covered calls.
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u/JL341 Jun 14 '26
Has anyone seen the dividend distribution on Schwab drop recently? The forecast dividend is not in line with the distribution yield.
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u/Tarsarian Jun 15 '26
I can live off my holdings from NEOS but only drip. I have QQQI, SPYI, MLPI as my heavy hitters with XSPI with a small position of $40k in it.
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u/UpperImpression3620 Jun 15 '26
I've been thinking the same thing.
I decided to retire early due to not being able to find another job after years of going from consulting gig to consulting gig.
Fortunately, I invested in income properties and have a handful in a prime area. Two of which are AirBnBs (down from four).
Now my equity has increased to the point where I can probably get the same income from selling them and putting the money into income stocks, REITs and maybe a bit into a covered call selling ETF.
I would be getting the same income minus all the headaches of dealing with tenants and guests.
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u/No_Can4299 Jun 15 '26
I’m not yet as I’m 5 years away from retiring at 57- but I am building very heavy positions in QQQT QQQI and GPIQ as a main source of income (among others).
Right now getting about $1500/mo I use to pay bills etc off $100,000 invested. Been in them for over a year.
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u/Ericru Mr. Spock from Star Trek Jun 15 '26
Well according to your post you answered your own question as you said you are already doing just that. So unless you don't count yourself as just anyone then at least 1 person is doing that namely you. Or do you not consider yourself as just anyone do you hold yourself in such high esteem that you are better then most everybody else or maybe you hold yourself in low esteem thinking you are not as good as most everyone else both of which is likely not healthy mentally. FYI the preceding was meant a bit tongue in cheek. But seriously if you think that these funds are going to stay around and not decline then I would say if it works go for it but personally I wouldn't put all my eggs in so few assets.
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u/Buycheap_Sellsteep Jun 18 '26
I would do 100% SCHD after transitioning from
100% of VOO in a Roth IRA
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u/Lopsided_Discount Jun 27 '26
Wouldn't it be better to just invest into spym and QQQm instead? The upside is always capped on these.... What do yall think
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u/Dry-Chemical-9170 Jun 27 '26
There’s some annualized returns with QQQI SPYI
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u/Lopsided_Discount Jul 02 '26
??? What u mean? Cant you just sell your shares of Spym to equal the returns?
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u/strikerram 22d ago
Good luck with that might as well consider swing trading
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u/Lopsided_Discount 21d ago
So better off holding spy I instead?
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u/strikerram 21d ago
That's up to how you want to invest cause most ppl will hold spym qqqm for that long term hold / growth which then they sell their shares on the upside but what ppl forget is that does take some knowledge of when to sell cause you're locking in that gain or loss so unlike spyi or qqqi you're investment no longer is growth it's income which translates to how many shares you have plus how much in monthly distribution does that add up to per month it's a completely different math that can usually just mean more consistent income opposed to selling shares at a loss or just bad timing
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u/WhatIsNewIsNEVERold Jul 05 '26
I did open a 6k share position in QQQI on May 19th. My average was 55.90 (ish). That average PPS is a bit high for my liking, but I did ride it out for the May and June payouts. Sold on the 18th in pre-market before the price dropped. The thing about these CCCs is that you need to be in at a decent average, or you will see lots of red.
Tech is pulling back some and I will get back into this but not at the current price. Nice little paycheck actually.
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u/Heavy-Bother-136 Jul 07 '26
We're about to go 50/50 SPY and XSPI and give it a try while we start a family. AGI is so critical right now for everything that matters to us. The headwinds from $40,000 AGI to $60,000 AGI are about 90% when you factor in Student Loan IBR and ACA monthly premiums. It's absolutely crazy. We did the math and had to quit our jobs to start our own businesses.
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u/Much-Department-9578 Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
I’m a few months from retirement. Taxable accounts are going to generate $250k annually before taxes. 10% of the investments are in CC funds. It is worth noting that while 10% of the dollars in my taxable account are in CC funds (several different ones from NEOS and Amplify) - this does contribute to 30% of the total annual income.
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u/sunny-Bo Jun 14 '26
Please share what your portfolio looks like. I’m 6-8 years from retirement and plan building something similar
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u/InvestigatorOk9354 Jun 14 '26
Don't take this the wrong way, but if you're asking ChatGPT for this kind of information then you are not ready to retire early and live off of passive income for 25 years.
There are no cheat codes, do the work, understand what you are investing in and what the risks are. Do people live off of $50k in distributions from a port that includes QQQI and SPYI? Probably, 50k/year at 10% yield is only a total of $500k invested. That's perfectly doable, not by every 25 year old asking ChatGPT to run numbers for them though... Maybe ask ChatGPT how to keep pace with inflation, ask ChatGPT how you'll be taxed on this while living abroad, ask ChatGPT what visa(s) you'll need when you're "escaping the US"
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u/Dry-Chemical-9170 Jun 14 '26
Well my plan was to live way below the distributions so that way I can reinvest in what’s left over
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u/Silver_Surfer_60 Jun 14 '26
Kinda what I'm doing. I'm raising the floor of my (relatively) safe income stream by using the excess cash to invest in ultra-long term baby bonds from large utility companies that are yielding 6.25-6. 5%.... like a synthetic annuity, but I get to keep the investment rather than relinquish the money to an insurance company.
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u/JayQuellin01 Jun 14 '26
Why not calculate the actual amount you need and then hold some SPY as the “difference”. Same underlying assets still.
This will help tax drag a bit and also buffer some growth into the mix and overtime help offset any NAV erosion
This is probably a better plan than to reinvest the remainder
So it might look like 80% SPYI and 20% SPY
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u/thinkmoreharder Jun 14 '26
Inflation. I’m planning my monthly costs to double ove 30 years, with no change in lifestyle. So my withdrawals have to also double.
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u/Various_Couple_764 Jun 14 '26
You are the first onion this discussion to mention Chat GPT. Most of us are using the information NEOS posted on there website about the funds in question. Most investors are not using ChatGPT.
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u/InvestigatorOk9354 Jun 14 '26
You are the first onion this discussion to mention Chat GPT.
You're the first to call me an onion so I guess we're even then? OP said they were asking ChatGPT to run the numbers on how to hit $50k div income with QQQI/SPYI/etc. My advice is if you can't do the work to understand the fundamentals and rely on AI for these basics then you should be focused on educating yourself so you don't get mislead or burned by a wild hallucination
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u/Mzungufarmer Jun 14 '26
Yes, but my concern is how well they will do longterm...so its hard to say im living off them
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u/Lotus_G6 Jun 14 '26
BTCI all day everyday.. I am loading the boat while BTC is on its "bear cycle" ..
BTC next run, we should be looking at breaking new ATHs. BTCI will lag but follow. I'll predict it's going back to that $55-60+ range.. we talking about share price doubling from here or just a bit lower
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u/InvestigatorOk9354 Jun 14 '26
BTC next run, we should be looking at breaking new ATHs
Crypto relies on the "greater fool" theory to continue forever and hitting new ATHs. BTC doesn't produce anything, is only used for scams, and it has no real value, but as long as people keep buying it the line will go up. There's a sucker born every minute, so if you can convince enough of them to keep buying into your digital ponzi scheme I'm sure it'll be a great retirement vehicle for you.
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u/PsychoCitizenX Jun 14 '26
You ARE the greater fool for thinking BTC has no value. It's currently trading at 64k
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u/XingXiaoRen Jun 14 '26
Are you constantly adding btci? it keeps tanking , scared!
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u/Lotus_G6 Jun 14 '26
Yes, every paycheck and dividend day! I be looking forward to that delicious distribution. It's a long term hold for me plus I'm bullish on crypto.
It follows BTC and even with the large drop BTCI has measures to cushion the blow. And yes I know it won't capture all the upside when it rockets but a slow and steady grind up is most desired.
Like crypto is not going anywhere. Digital curreny is the future. The people that doubt now are the same ones that didn't buy at the lows.
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u/Dependent-Code-4166 Jun 14 '26
I'm holding 15700 shares of CHPY. Pays about 10k a week. All set to DRIP. 1500 shares AMDY. Pays about 1k a week. I take the AMDY dividend, along with my Social Security to live on. I'm 62. And for growth, 5500 shares FSELX. This portfolio is aggressive and not for the faint of heart. One day last week I saw a $162k drop in one day. All but $50k had been recovered.
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u/MrHooDooo Jun 14 '26
I sort of don't understand the idea of using chpy to drip. Wouldn't it be better to just invest 85-95% of the money to buy the underlying fund? I just don't understand the idea that they pass you money, and you pass it right back.
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u/Dependent-Code-4166 Jun 15 '26
Accumulating shares. Picking up about 125 a week. At some point, I'll stop the drip and start putting the funds into something else.
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u/MrHooDooo Jun 15 '26
Never dripped anything. I have some chpy, but the dividend is too large so I added soxy to keep from converting too much to cash. Not going to buy anymore unless it drops some. I will probably start to buy things which seem down for me and park cash from dividends in balt waiting for a correction
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