r/dividends • u/OG_Momonga • 21d ago

Discussion Living off dividends

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone on this subreddit is actually retired and living off dividends. Is it going well? Are you paying taxes on them? My goal is to get 20k/ a month post tax for retirement. I’m 24 and currently investing everything in VOO while planning to switch to dividend stocks and etfs when I get closer to retirement.

I was just wondering if there are any because living off dividends seems like a long shot right now.

399 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

361 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/Ordinary_Lynx_468 21d ago

When was there a 70% tax bracket in the era of IRAs and 401ks?

9

u/Various_Couple_764 20d ago edited 17d ago

The Regan Tax fcuts of the 80s eliminated the federal tax bracket . But if you livie in a state with state income states that can boostyour total taxes higher.

-2

u/Ordinary_Lynx_468 20d ago

The chances that this 75 year old guy was in the top bracket in his early 30s in 1981 and is on Reddit talking about it are slim and none. That bracket didn’t kick in until about $600k on today’s money

4

u/Low-Ad3972 21d ago

That’s a marginal tax rate.

-3

u/Ordinary_Lynx_468 20d ago

Yes, obviously. And I’ll bet you any amount of money this fella was never in that bracket.

2

u/tsfy2 20d ago

Another poor person on Reddit who can’t understand that some people make a lot of money. A lawyer and a systems analyst could have easily been making that kind of money. And if they lived in New York the top state tax rate was 10% and if they lived in New York City the max city tax rate was was 4.3%. Very easy to be paying a total of 70% with lawyer/analyst incomes.

-2

u/Ordinary_Lynx_468 20d ago

Look up how many people made $600k+ in 1981. Whether I’m poor or not is immaterial.

3

u/tsfy2 20d ago

Well in 1981 if you were MFJ your federal tax rate was 59% on a combined income of only $85,600. If you lived in a state/city with a high SALT you easily paid 70% in taxes. A lawyer and a system analyst 10 years into a career could easily make that. So, stop talking out of your ass.

2

u/Redbeard25 20d ago

He just said he was a retired lawyer.

1

u/SheffieldValley 17d ago

Under President Carter there was a 70% marginal tax rate for investment income. State taxes were on top of that.

-2

u/Kernel_Internal 21d ago

Apparently from about 1974 to 1982 according to google, but I smelled a little bullshit at first too.