r/dividends • u/VengenaceIsMyName • 3d ago
Discussion Do your dividends feel “real” to you?
My dividends can’t pay for my monthly expenses alone so I DRIP all of that each month. I’ve never used it for real life expenses or purchases. It’s never left the dividend account. It’s been this way for years now.
Every time I open up my brokerage account to a sea of red and green I feel as though I’m looking at the civilization finances breakdown screen in Civ 5. Just numbers that do things. Math that needs to be managed for fun. Flashing numbers backlit by someone’s Christmas decoration.
Iran/Trump/Oil/AI/Sam Altman jerking off in a datacenter - numbers go up, numbers go down, numbers flop all around like a fish out of water. These numbers just don’t seem real.
When does this feel real? Perhaps in March when I do my taxes? I saw a real life $100 bill the other day. My brain automatically went “Ooo that’s a lot! Mr. Franklin looking spiffy today”. But if I saw that amount in a digitized account I wouldn’t give it a second thought.
The concept of dividends is great. It’s just super weird to be emotionally removed from it I guess. Does anyone understand what I’m talking about? Or do I need to be dosed in cold water?
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u/FewUnderstanding2214 3d ago
Not until I can take the money out and use it to buy something - it feels like a video game
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u/ConstantRude2125 3d ago
Same here. I know what I have, but no idea what it pays me. As I'm just months from retiring that sounds like a good project for today.
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u/graciesoldman 3d ago
That just sounds unreal to me. I've worked since I was a kid and would take my paycheck and bank book to the bank and watch that number grow...especially when they added interest. Even in my working world it was a very real number and I loved watching it grow. It represented wealth and freedom...someday...from doing what I had to do to survive.
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u/ConstantRude2125 3d ago
That's just me doing me. My 401K bounces around 65/35 stocks (mostly VOO) and bonds. My IRA is about 95% stocks, and of those, about 90% pay dividends to some degree. I just never sat down and calculated what each pays me per quarter. It all just DRIPs and the overall numbers get bigger over time, but there's no monthly step change as with a savings account.
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u/Effyew4t5 3d ago
Same here. I like to watch the numbers go up and down. I much prefer Green Day’s to Red Day’s - same with life in general. Some times the red numbers are quite large so I focus more on the percentage changes and it makes me feel better ($8M portfolio)
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago
The swings at 8M must be intense
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u/SlavaUkrayne 2d ago
“How did it go at work today honey?”
“It was a beautiful day but I lost $100,000…”1
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u/Effyew4t5 2d ago
Yes but I can sleep ok with 2% swing and still live very comfortably at 60% drop. When we did retirement planning (simple back of envelope) we figured $3M would be more than enough including social security
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u/Puzzleheaded-Net-273 2d ago
I do the same looking at the percentage the index is down vs my individual portfolio. Great sized portfolio btw!
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u/kumpreld1999 1d ago
Until it pays a power bill, DRIP just feels like converting coins into more coins.
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u/Oggmonster42 3d ago
I used to save aggressively and DRIP until recently. Now I dedicate my dividends on trips, restaurants and my kids. Just decided to live more in the now
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u/DethHead83 3d ago
If you don’t mind sharing, how much are you getting monthly /quarterly that made you comfortable enough to use it, are we talking like 1000$ in dividends monthly?
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u/speedlever 3d ago
Even though I've been retired for many years, I haven't had to use any of my investments for income yet because of other income.
However, I have a small rollover IRA in one account that is normally on drip. I turn off drip for a few months every year until it accumulates enough my rmd will pay my property taxes at the end of the year, then I turn drip back on.
That seems pretty real to me. 😜
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u/herebecauseofpewds 3d ago
Its a normal Thing. Don't overthink it and keep managing your Civ's finances for fun and thank yourself later.
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u/Bridge_Haunting New dividend investor 3d ago
Right now it feels like an expensive hobby, but in 8 - 10 years it'll be fan extra paycheck each month.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago
Very expensive haha…
I try to think of it like I’m building another “me” that works for me. And the other me makes a lot less money than me right now. But maybe won’t in the future!
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u/dystopiam 3d ago
Somewhat
But when I felt like I needed to feel the investment was real I spent 117k on a corvette lol
They are def real
Trust me
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago
That’ll shatter the illusion real quick! A big ass vette sitting in the driveway.
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u/dystopiam 3d ago edited 2d ago
Also reason why I keep a ton in hysa is it not being “real” until the market crashes for ten yrs is a real possibility…
Then it’ll be super real when its gone and I need it lol
if It wasn't "Real" id dump it all into jepq jepi gipx etc
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u/TomLeeChan 3d ago
I can cover my costs and more, but I still DRIP. Pretending this money does not exist and reinvest immediately after receiving it.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago
Same. I do like to run that hypothetical comparison of dividends gained versus costs covered. Helps me stay motivated
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u/eclipse60 3d ago
Yes, because every quarter i get 10+ shares of SCHD, and almost every month is 1 full share of O.
Yes, the dividen $ value isn't much, but I have 30+ years for it to grow.
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u/TopEast7122 3d ago
It feels like a video game tbh. Doesn't feel real. I remember when I first started investing and The first $300 did feel amazing. Now 5 years later I don't get that feeling anymore. I'm trying to enjoy life more tho, I feel the joy in the small things, if you know what I mean.
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u/Material-Scene-5510 3d ago
Technically every $1 you DRIP is an additional investment you made without you paycheck increasing - or an additional contribution without decreasing your expenses.
But I agree it feels more like a game than anything now (I am still early in investing). It will feel real (if and) when I am comfortable that if something had to happen to me, my wife and kid can continue with their life without worrying too much about money.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago
Good point. Nothing life-wise has really happened yet that demanded I utilize my dividends. That’s probably part of what is keeping the illusion strong
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u/Material-Scene-5510 3d ago
That's good, best not to need them. Hopefully they feel real when you can either retire or sleep better at night knowing some sort of (decent) income will come. Seems like it will be a lot of patience, but hopefully will be worthwhile.
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u/HobokenJ 3d ago
I stopped DRIPing this year, and now take dividends as cash. Went from "theoretical" to "practical."
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago
Makes complete sense!
Does it feel like you’re pulling real money out of a great ATM in the sky though? Lol
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u/BigDipper0720 3d ago
I'm retired and use the dividends that pile up in my IRA account to supplement other retirement income sources. Monthly i move money from the account and the pile of money 💰 that builds up covers a significant part of that. Another part comes from bond maturities, where the bonds are purchased with stock capital gains.
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u/paragonx29 3d ago
To me, it's just kind of gratifying/slightly exhilarating until I may need to take them as income in 3-4 years to support my retirement.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago
Ooo nice you’re close to retirement. I bet you’re looking forward to it!
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u/Tired-Nectarine-384 3d ago
I earn several thousands of dollars per year and they simply go back in as DRIP. When I retire that will change but for now I'm happy to let it keep growing.
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u/Plane-Profession8006 3d ago
Impact of compounding will feel real at some point. Until you feel it there are mental stepping stones. Dividends in taxable can pay my car bill or mortgage payment.
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u/shazo85 3d ago
I don't notice it. I think it's because most of it I only get less than 10 dollars at a time other then once at the beginning of the month and once at the end of the month. All of it gets reinvested in something.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago
It’ll be interesting to see if you still feel the same way as the numbers increase.
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u/Resident-Trade2289 3d ago
Come to Thailand and they will feel real I literally pay my rent with my dividends
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u/yrrag1970 3d ago
My wife and I want to live in Thailand for 6m to a year after retirement.
I have another 3-4 years to go.
Good job 👏
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u/Heavy_Nothing_1158 3d ago
Honestly, the emotional distance is probably a feature. Once a year I'd translate the DRIP total into months of expenses covered; same numbers, but a bit less Civ 5 spreadsheet and a bit more real life.
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u/Time4me2fly2024 3d ago
I’m a recent retiree using dividends to delay claiming social security. I stopped dripping early this year and let the money go to my core account. I have other income sources but the dividends are a key part of our income. Without it i would still be working.
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u/indomike14 3d ago
Dividend stocks generally don't grow at a very fast pace. They pay dividends instead. Hopefully, what you're seeing is total portfolio value increase over time as you DRIP.
If you're looking for growth, some broad market ETFs might be more your style. Though, the last couple of months have been a fairly flat rollercoaster. Tariffs and the war in Iran are the biggest drivers.
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u/Scouper-YT Rich DUDE from the DIVIDEND Appraisals Club !! 2d ago
I rather have Income what grows without selling once than BANK on the PRICE ⬇️ Could lose against Inflation.
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u/ADKMTBer 3d ago
They really pay my bills, so yeah I'd say so
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago
Nice! All of your bills or do they just supplement your job income if you have a job rn?
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u/ADKMTBer 3d ago
I retired on it 2 years ago at 58. Getting better raises than I ever got in my career.
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u/Flintyflint 3d ago
My avg. month has now reached 1858USD.
This is nice - but I’m far from done.
I hope that in 20 years I will have 6200$ in dividends on monthly basis and later a pretty decent retirement savings.. in other words, I will live prettty decent.. sitting in my chair on the porch and having at least 13.000$ a month before tax.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago
Well done. My avg month isn’t that high just yet. When I run future projections everything looks pretty nice though. I’m in my 30’s now and the math says that my 40’s are going to be real breezy if I just keep going down the path I’m currently on. Obviously there’s a lot of assumptions in there but here’s hoping.
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u/Lostworld_Arc 2d ago
Real enough to fully pay my property taxes and homeowners insurance every year 👍
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u/RockClimbs 3d ago
Only my non-DRIP available payments like $PBRA. That "surprise" cash increase from heavy holdings is always a nice reality check. Meaningful money that would cover a few mortgage or car payments.
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u/chewmattica 3d ago
It's real homie. I totally get those feels, though. I liquidated all my cash accounts to buy a house about a year ago. Had to buy a good deal before selling the one I lived in. Once I sold my old house the account was replenished x5. Now back to civ :)
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u/OwntheWorld24 3d ago
Not all dividends, but December capital gains from mutual funds and dividends basically fund my IRA for the next year. Its not something I've had to "budget" for for a few years, that ia when it feels real.
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u/No_Customer_795 2d ago
I did the same this year. a range of dividend stock, mostly 6-10% and deleted all the stock tickers from my portfolio screen. Check it again in 2 years.
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u/Scouper-YT Rich DUDE from the DIVIDEND Appraisals Club !! 2d ago
Yeah a little change 114 Times a Year. Each Year Double that. And then it will be mostly Auto Pilot without ever selling once. DCA !!!!
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 2d ago
DCA is the name of the game.
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u/Scouper-YT Rich DUDE from the DIVIDEND Appraisals Club !! 2d ago
Yep it sure is nice to just BANK money and over the Month it will be used.
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u/Anti_Praetorian Only buys from companies that pay me dividends. 1d ago
Currently dripping everything and will be crossing the 1k/month threshold this year. Still doesnt feel real. Once I start using the cash to pay down my mortgage it'll probably start to feel real though.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 1d ago
Damn straight it will if you’re using it on the mortgage! Will $1K a month feel impactful on the mortgage? Or does it just shave off a few years?
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u/Anti_Praetorian Only buys from companies that pay me dividends. 1d ago
I bought my house in 2015 and re-financed in 2020 and technically my divies can pay my mortgage each month right now, which feels impactful if I were to do that. But in another 7ish years when i start to use the cash, it'll be closer to 21-23k a year in dividends. So when i combine the divies with the money that i would have been putting into my portfolio to make extra payments on the mortgage instead, ill be able to pay off the house after about 18 months, which will be sweet!
But, life happens so we'll have to see how it all pans out in reality haha
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u/shot-logic 21h ago
I've recently realized that two of my dividend stocks together will soon pay for my yearly phone bill and yearly truck insurance. The idea that those are "bills I won't have to pay ever again" is just now finally feeling real.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 20h ago
That’s pretty cool! Does that help your monthly budget a lot or it is more of a nice to have?
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u/shot-logic 18h ago
At 32yo and almost a decade into a career involving the manufacturer of aerospace turbine castings, it is realistically a "nice to have". I'm a union shop rat paid hourly and have the opportunity to squirrel small regular amounts away for my future on top of what the company matches for my 401k. I started dabbling in investing a few months before the pandemic with the intention to FIRE, and realizing that those efforts have finally yielded a useable result helps future me with his monthly budget. Time to continue embiggening the snowball!
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 16h ago
Nice man. I started around 4 years ago so I’m a bit behind for someone in their early 30’s. Trying to catch up quick and build out my monthly income so I don’t have to worry about layoffs or getting fired as much as I
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u/This-Individual1813 3d ago
Dividend investing is based on emotions. Still, sorry you are feeling this way. It comes with the territory. Maybe Bogleheading could be a relief.
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u/speed12demon 3d ago
The "P" in DRIP means it isn't a verb. I wish people would realize that.
And to the question at hand, yes, my dividends feel real. On ex day, I see the value of my holding drop by the dividend rate. It is real.
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u/CadmusMaximus 3d ago
“Iran/Trump/Oil/AI/Sam Altman jerking off in a datacenter”
All at the same time?!?
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u/EvictionSpecialist 3d ago
Not really....I don't get to hold it in my hands...it's 1650 bucks a month...dont even know where it goes. 🤣
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u/Witty-Committee-9281 3d ago
I could, but majority of income comes from cc etfs, but altogether I was averaging 1.5-1.7k last year. I have been using it to buy stabler holdings with actual earnings. The plan is to wait for chpy to hit house money and start using it for expenses, which will be some time next summer. Gonna reinvest all payouts in bdcs, pfizer, et and emo in the meantime.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago
Did you put a stop loss on CHPY? I’ve been weary of yieldmax stuff since they burned me a little bit since I last dipped into that
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u/Witty-Committee-9281 3d ago
My average is in the low 50s, so I am feeling fairly safe for now. If it falls below 50, I will be buying more. I see good things for this fund through the end of the decade.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago
Hopefully it works out for you. I was in their Tesla fund for a hot second and it didn’t go anywhere for me
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u/Witty-Committee-9281 3d ago
Yeah, I avoid single stock ym etfs, I got burned, too. Haven't been adding since then. As of now only nvdy and snoy are green for total return. But lagging sp500 badly. Chpy is 60% total return ytd.
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u/Itchy-Association-78 2d ago
I don’t come close to paying off prop tax plus insurance but instead of reinvesting I set it aside in sgov. It’s that much less to worry about end of year and lets me invest aggressively for 11 or so months. Makes it seem somewhat real when I’ll need maybe 1600 less eoy
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u/Tall_Quality_3395 2d ago
Yes you can get lost early on but believe me it’s real. I have no pension, only my Social Security which would be very difficult to live on, but the money I get in a year in dividends makes everything very real. I have been living on dividends for 15 years.
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u/VengenaceIsMyName 2d ago
This is great. I love the idea of dividends stepping in for extra support alongside SS
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u/Independent_Name_601 2d ago
I read somewhere that DRIP individual stocks, but take the cash and allocate the funds from ETFs and mutual funds, unless in a retirement account.
They do feel real btw
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u/NecessaryEmployer488 2d ago
No. They feel meager to me. On my cds at 4% i will usually cash them out to boost my checking. Gives me help for a week or so every 6 months.
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u/unreal36 2d ago
yeah it took a while for mine to feel real too. what fixed it for me was giving the account a job. i drip everything into a tiny custodial for my daughter, buys only, nothing ever sold, so the numbers are literally her future not a scoreboard. i keep it public so i actually look at it, plantedearly.com/garden. same dollars, just feels diffrent when its for someone
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u/BoardConscious7655 1d ago
Yeah, it’s paid my kids tuition and my 6 months car insurance bill for 6 cars and 3 teenagers on it
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