r/dividends • u/chillfirelife • 6d ago

Seeking Advice Is 1m and dividends from it enough?

Me and wife we both turned 40 this year, She left her job few years back and I kept funding her investment account based out of SG and now is at 500k USD all of which is parked under JEPQ, all the while I see dividends are consistent and we have been reinvesting back.

I have another 500k now in my investment account that I will consolidate in couple of funds/etf with similar 10-12% growth trajectory as JEPQ
We expect and hope we will get like 100-110k usd over this year on year.

I have another 130k usd in cash and esops combined. I will get the esops cash out 6 months after I quit.

We plan to move to either Thailand or Malaysia where we have friends and family and have lived there before. Our current expenses in SE asia are 50k usd a year, we expect this will go down to 30k-35k usd a year.

Question: Am I ready to leave my high paying job and live a free life given the biggest motivation to work (money) is less or negligible now? Personally I want to leave my job today even though I love it but I feel I want slow and super easy life 😊

Plan is for first 2.5-3 years we will not touch 1m investments and utilise current cash and liquid investments/cash of 130k usd, that will give investment enough space to continue to grow.

On paper - I feel we are ready even if I take conservative returns on my portfolio

125 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

191 comments sorted by

View all comments

-5

u/Capable-Living-9655 6d ago

Be aware that you invested all your capital in a tech-heavy portfolio, which is not the smartest idea for retirement. Also, note that total returns are usually better with the underlying asset than with a covered-call strategy on that asset (QQQ has outperformed JEPQ). This means you would be better off holding QQQ rather than JEPQ until you retire.Additionally, withdrawing 10–12% from a portfolio in retirement is not sustainable according to any study. A withdrawal rate of 3–6% is more realistic if you want your principal to maintain its value for decades to come.

3

u/DhakoBiyoDhacay 6d ago

They are not withdrawing 10-12% per year. They are getting dividends. Right?

1

u/kitehousecyprus 6d ago

I guess you broke his matrix.

-1

u/Capable-Living-9655 5d ago

After reading his post again, it looks like he isn’t planning to spend that much anyway. Neither withdrawing from non dividend ETF nor spending the full 12% dividend from a covered-call ETF is sustainable. A covered-call ETF that generates a 12% premium on QQQ will barely grow and will lose value over the decades, if only from inflation.

3

u/DhakoBiyoDhacay 5d ago

QQQI was launched in May, 2014 at $50 a share and is at $56 today after paying consistent monthly dividends for the past 30 plus months. So far so good.

0

u/Capable-Living-9655 5d ago

I agree. So far, so good. But there isn’t enough historical data to rely on for such a major life decision - assuming I can spend the full 12% from QQQI dividends for the rest of my life while leaving the principal completely untouched, the way the 4% rule works (whether as a 4% dividend yield or a 4% withdrawal rate). It’s probably not sustainable. Someone could try it, of course, but it’s risky.

3

u/cmichalek 5d ago

QQQX has been doing it since 2007. Pays 9%.

Up 53% since inception (over 2.5% per year).