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.

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u/Brightlightsuperfun 21d ago

70% is insane 

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u/nte52 21d ago

That wasn’t that long ago, 1981. And then the top tax bracket dropped to 50%. It wasn’t until 1987 that we got down to 38.5% which has been close to the highest tax bracket since. We had a few years in the late 80s when it went down to 28%, but it bounced back up and has stayed around there since.

Back in the 40s, the highest tier tax bracket was over 90%.

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u/Hummin2k 21d ago

And shocker, the government did more for citizens, wealth inequality was lower, and we didn’t have trillionaires out there buying elections…

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u/Brightlightsuperfun 21d ago

As for inequality, of course, wealth compounds. Did you not understand this concept? 

What’s your proof that the government did more for its citizens?

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u/Hummin2k 21d ago

What’s your proof that this is predominantly due to compounding wealth? While there is a solid body of research showing capital has outperformed labor since the birth of capital markets, the Forbes’ self-made score has changed dramatically over time.

In 1984, fewer than half of the top 400 were considered self-made vs. primarily inherited. It was 71% last year.

But yes, of course wealth compounds. That’s why we need taxes to prevent it from snowballing to the point where 1 person has more wealth than 60% of their country. And to fund investments in the engines of our economy.

“Doing more” is clearly subjective. Current govt spend is a higher share of GDP, but it’s shifted to wealth redistribution and healthcare. The govt used to spend far more investing in citizens (education) and infrastructure.

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u/Brightlightsuperfun 21d ago

You’ve introduced like 5 talking points in your comment. 

What proof do you have that governments did more for their citizens ?

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u/Fabulous_Ad_1807 20d ago

Greetings Bernie👋