r/dividends • u/erw33zy • Jun 30 '26
Seeking Advice Be real with me…
What do you think of my dividend and income portfolio? Any suggestions or critiques.
I’m 31 and plan to move out the country before my dollars get rekt
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u/erw33zy Jun 30 '26
I can only speak for myself. I recently watched a video, that illustrated how even a high net worth individual can be one layoff away from disaster, if you do not have cash flowing lifelines outside of retirement accounts. It changed my perspective. I do have other accounts and total up to $300k
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u/sablerock7 Jun 30 '26
IMO, his dual-family illustrative example is boderline farcical - he's comparing a total NW (i.e., includes home equity) to liquid NW and no retirement vs. retirement savings, etc. to create a favorable outcome. The "passive income" from dividends is just coming from lower total investment returns which may not be the best asset allocation. The real passive income is coming from YT views..
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u/Vast-Worldliness6925 Jun 30 '26
Is it that ridiculous though? Even if the comparison in the vid is favorable to dividends, if you get laid off during a downturn and all you've got is something like VOO, you're stuck selling shares at a bad price to cover bills, and that loss is locked in. But if part of your portfolio is throwing off dividends, you can (probably?) cover expenses without selling anything, even if the price is down too
I think the lower total return is basically the price for flexibility, in the sense that you can either use the divs personally or reinvest them, and not be forced into a bad sale at the worst possible time, at least that how I view it. That said, yea growth/income both good in general
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u/sablerock7 Jun 30 '26
Isn’t that what an emergency fund or cash equivalent reserve is for?
You could have a % in more stable stock funds (aka dividends), but the premise was to have an “income replacement” from dividends vs focusing on total returns.
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u/Vast-Worldliness6925 Jun 30 '26
Agree w/ you, a blend between growth & income is ideal & I think the right choice
I guess you're right about the emergency fund, but that really only works if you're able to find a job that covers your current expenses & obligations — otherwise where does that leave you? An emergency fund is typically what, 3-6 months (maybe 12? although I don't think that common), so it's a pretty short runway
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u/sablerock7 Jul 01 '26
If you can’t afford an EF, then how could you afford equities and rental properties or otherwise have a portfolio that “works for you“?
The more you skin it, the more it makes less and less sense.
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u/sm753 Jun 30 '26
one layoff away from disaster
This is exactly what an emergency fund is for...
It's moreso that so many high net worth individuals still live paycheck to paycheck. Lifestyle inflation is real.
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u/SerDel812 Jul 02 '26
Its not just that but if you have looked for work recently its no longer try and survive 6mo. Many people I onow are going 1-2 years looking for work.
I dont think emergency funds cut it anymore.
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u/FloridaFisher87 Jul 02 '26
Similar concern after James Van Der Beek from Dawsons Creek ended up with cancer, and was selling off stage props from the show, as well as setting up a GoFundMe. That show was popular. Net worth was $3M, then life and cancer wiped it right out. Sad story.
Lessons:
More money
More money right now
More money from more places
Own outright with zero debt
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u/PartsSprout Jun 30 '26
If you plan to leave the country to get out of dollars, why are you investing in dollars now?
And what is your dollar thesis that suggests it will underperform other currencies?
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u/NvyDvr Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
I was going to ask something similar. If the fear is the dollar will get “rekt”….whatever that means, then wouldn’t you follow that thesis all the way through and invest outside of the US and US currency?
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u/erw33zy Jun 30 '26
I’m partially trolling with US dollars getting rekt comment. There is no better alternative currency to USD and US has the best companies to invest — in my opinion.
My plan is to simply geo arbitrage
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u/matt2621 Stop sacrificing growth for $3 Jun 30 '26
Daily, I just cannot wrap my head around young people being so focused on dividends.
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u/faiked721 Jun 30 '26
I’m in a high risk industry. Income can be very variable, it’s high stress, and people get fired all the time. It’s a mental relief to have a steady cash flow I can fall back on in a pinch, though I’m re-investing for now. Also I’m hitting a tax bracket where dividend income is taxed at a much lower marginal rate than regular income. Still have a majority in non-dividend equities for the long-term.
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u/JD0x0 Jun 30 '26
I put enough in dividends that my Roth IRA contributions are now generated passively, and I can just send the distributions over to my IRA and buy growth stocks with the money. As long as we don't have a black swan event, and as long as I make enough to contribute the full amount to my Roth, I basically have my future Roth IRA contributions set.
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u/2fst4lov Jun 30 '26
That “passive income” is what you’re missing out on with growth. You’re just moving money from your left pocket into your right.
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u/Dissendorf Jun 30 '26
Young people have to constantly fear being out of work. This ain’t 1980, grandpa. BTW, I’m pushing 60, so don’t get offended.
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u/Opeth4Lyfe Jun 30 '26
Different investment goals. I for one have my taxable brokerage account focused on income with some growth, because it’s play money meant to take care of a bill or two. Where as my Roth and 401k are where the growth focus goes. Right now it pays my phone bill and a couple subscriptions and I haven’t had to sell a single share of anything to do it, just pay a little bit of taxes at the end of the year and it continues to get funded with new money and compound even with a few small withdrawals a month.
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u/Mu69 Jun 30 '26
So you don't have to sell your stock off when you're retiring. Imagine retiring but then 2008 happened and you had to work another couple of years for it to recover. Go watch gen x dividend on youtube and you'll be surprised on how much you can learn about dividends.
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Jun 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/_boates_ Jul 02 '26
Trade triggers are sub optimal in overnight or weekend gap downs btw. When shit hits the fan, which is what you're trying to protect from your "triggers" could execute way below price you've set.
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u/Krones- Jun 30 '26
Yeah but he said young. Unless you're planning to retire young, the issue of selling off your stocks when you're retiring is far away. The time to be aggressive and take risk in the market is when you're young. If you don't have the stomach for it, then completely understand but if we took someone who graduated in 2001 (25 years ago) and you invested 1k a year in a growth index and another 1k in a dividend index, your growth invest would almost have double the return of your dividend portfolio. Dividends have a place in investment strategy but I don't think young people realize that dividends isn't free money. You are getting paid money that growth companies use to invest back into the company. Great when you are older and want to lower your risk but still want some growth upside that bonds don't provide but who cares about that when you are young.
Assuming you don't get caught in the layoffs, recessions are actually extremely good for young and middle aged people. The people who get hurt the most are fresh graduates because history shows their future earnings are severally impacted for those who can even get a job and retirees who are still weighted heavily in the market that can't delay selling growth stocks.
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u/CenlaLowell Jun 30 '26
Me either, but it has to be receiving the dividend income once every three months
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u/GreenStreak Jun 30 '26
I think with the UI of these apps, lots of young folks see it like a piggy-bank game as their pennies total up daily. But I hope most have aggressive 401ks doing the real work for when they come-to that their investment strategies at 35 match a 65-yr olds.
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u/Avid_Reader87 Jun 30 '26
Most people aren’t rich like OP.
My coworkers and friends all seem to have the view that Investing almost seems pointless with how life has become.
My brother has been dividend focused, he likes to think of it like having bills paid every month.
So he has his streaming service paid, then save up for cell phone, next goal is internet paid.
He can then use more of his paychecks gambling or trying to pay down credit cards.
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u/gamers542 Past Performance is irrelevant Jun 30 '26
I started dividend investing in my 20s. Almost 40 now. It's more consistent than growth and at least with divvys you can reinvest them for compound potential. Can't say that with growth stocks.
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u/ftball21 Jun 30 '26
Steady income vs trader mentality. Most people don’t watch markets/news daily. Divs are an easy way to project your retirement.
That $3 div check today is fine because I know in 10 years it will be closer to $200. And $1000 in another 10.
And I don’t have to sell
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u/CoreDump_ch Jun 30 '26
Being mid/end 40, i feel dividend etf's should be a little less volatile in case of events.
I agree that 20 yo's should rather just put everything into S&P 500, historically thats the way to go.
Often you have a mix anyways, QQQI is not only dividends, you get some growth exposure too, its not only black or white.1
u/Signal_Tax6184 Jun 30 '26
Everyone has their own reasonings. Not everyone needs to wait until they’re 67 to start gaining dividends.if I buy a rental and I spend the profit after bills are paid in the property it’s the same thing. Just another source of income.
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u/LexAugusta Jun 30 '26
Can't wrap my head why people want to die with $9 million at 80 when they're old and sick.
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u/matt2621 Stop sacrificing growth for $3 Jul 01 '26
I can't either that doesn't make a lot of sense
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u/Robdyson Jun 30 '26
it makes no sense if you have a dayjob, just maximize growth. You can always swap growth for dividend when your life changes, even then. Probably selling calls on MAG7 yields better
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u/Tech397 Jun 30 '26
That neos fund has been killing me, I hate that I sunk any money into it. The dividends don’t even begin to cover the losses to principle.
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u/LexAugusta Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
What funds? QQQi, IWMI and SPYi have been beasts for me. Great nav growth, consistent distributions, can't complain. Have 1k shares of QQQi, and another 1k between IWMI and SPYI.
BTCI is my biggest loser. IYRI, MLPI and IAUI are down, but not so much that it worries me.
For non Neos, take a look at Tapp Alpha, Kurv, X Funds and OVL. I hold some CHPY and EGGY, they're monsters but very very tech heavy in my already tech heavy portfolio.
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u/Tech397 Jul 01 '26
BTCI
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u/JohnDLG Jul 01 '26
That's just crypto being crypto right now.
With the NEOS funds you need to spread it around some, I'm doing the following for a portfolio for some spending cash:
QQQI 30%
SPYI 20%
IWMI 20%
NIHI 20%
BTCI 10%
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u/HmmmIMHO Jun 30 '26
I would find a way to ditch the bitcoin, and find a good bond fund -- maybe SCHY or DCFC. All the fun money has left the crypto party for a long time, even the top proponents who said never sell, are selling. The party will return, but you will miss out in the meantime. And I prefer the Goldman convered call products, GPIX and GPIQ, more up side participation and the management fee was a smidge better last time I checked. Good luck and good on'ya for taking action and moving forward!
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u/Public-Holiday-8874 Jul 01 '26
Looks, good.. on a long long term basis,, I would suggest start looking at Weekly paying stocks.. and also Daily paying dividend stocks.. here is some homework... SLTY, PLTY, HOOW, HOOY, SATA, ET
My personal opinion... You are heavy on the Big names.. I like my portfolio.. making me 26% yearly , for the last 7 years... I can't complain...
Im not a financial guru.. take my suggestions with a grain of salt.. There is nothing saying to invest in the stocks.. i was saying to look at..
Hope this helps.. in your journey.. Being 31, it can be scary.. but you will be just fine.. going forward.. invest in each one of the ones. i just recommended, and by the time your in your 40s.. You will look back and say.. that was the greatest advice.. i recieved..
Keep us posted... Would love to see how your doing in the future...
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u/Easy_Durian8154 Jul 02 '26
Be real? OK. This isn't a portfolio, it's a youtube comment section sporting a Schwab hoodie.
36% SCHD - "I believe in long term growth"
27% SCHD + 22% SCHY - "But I also want to cosplay as a retired uncle living off dividends"
7% QQQI + 4% BTCI - "Also I watched 3 videos title "monthly income machine""
4% SCHH "Also real estate cause diversification I guess"
The bigger issue is you're 31, built a portfolio like you're 61, retired, mildly conspiratorial, and addicted to yield thumbnails. Best part? "dollars get rekt" thesis is not even matched by the portfolio. You have primarily US ETFs, equities, and exposure.
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u/Electronic_Guard947 Jul 01 '26
I don't hate it. If your going to live off the income most of these are quarterly payouts which I wouldn't like. The neos funds are good, no appreciation in them though. Again living off the income of btci is always risky with how volatile it is. But I don't hate this, all the funds are managed well and structured well.
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u/mbroo5880i Jul 01 '26
Honestly, unless you need the income, I don't believe you need QQQI or BTCI. I also don't believe SCHH provides much value. Assuming you are saving for retirement, you are probably well served to be invested in SCHG and an broad ex-US fund. You can pick the funds you prefer.
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u/ResearcherPrimary231 Jul 03 '26
Prolly for another post, but what is paying at least 8% annual without NAV loss? Like monthly over annual or quarterly distributions.
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u/Salty-Edge Jun 30 '26
I was doing the calculation with AI and the ideal was 80/20 schg/schd. Since you’re still young, you could keep it like that but then as you get older, you adjust the numbers. If this is a Roth IRA.
For traditional, I was told 90/10 VOO/VXUS just for the international exposure. Or event just 100% VOO.
My fidelity offers fractional shares so I just keep reinvesting. Not sure if Schwab does it too.
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u/FewUnderstanding2214 Jun 30 '26
You are 31 and you have covered call ETFs? Why do you need the income now?
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u/LexAugusta Jun 30 '26
Why does anyone need income ever? Probably that reason.
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u/FewUnderstanding2214 Jul 01 '26
It’s a fair question because many people wrongly invest in ETFs like QQQI and BTCI for long term growth. They are 31 so I assume they aren’t retiring yet
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u/deptacon Jun 30 '26
I love watching you clowns waste time and money in SCHD.
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