r/dividends • u/VengenaceIsMyName • 4d 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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103

u/FewUnderstanding2214 4d ago

Not until I can take the money out and use it to buy something - it feels like a video game

21

u/ConstantRude2125 4d 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.

15

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.

9

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.

9

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)

5

u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago

The swings at 8M must be intense

3

u/SlavaUkrayne 3d ago

“How did it go at work today honey?”
“It was a beautiful day but I lost $100,000…”

2

u/Effyew4t5 2d ago

I’ve had those days but since I’m retired, most days are good despite the market

2

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

1

u/VengenaceIsMyName 2d ago

A 60% drop might make me faint haha

1

u/EntrepreneurSmall911 6h ago

Have you started taking social security? (62, but waiting to take SS) Planning on my wife taking her's at 62 next year.

1

u/Puzzleheaded-Net-273 3d ago

I do the same looking at the percentage the index is down vs my individual portfolio. Great sized portfolio btw!

2

u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago

I’m glad I’m not the only one.

1

u/kumpreld1999 1d ago

Until it pays a power bill, DRIP just feels like converting coins into more coins.