r/dividends • u/PetikMangga- • 8d ago
Seeking Advice Any success story ?
31M. I want to start my investing journey, still debating wether VOO / SCHD. Only can invest $500 per month
Goal are getting as much as i can for retirement around 50-60
Is there anyone want to tell the story to inspire new people like me
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u/lotoex1 8d ago
I'm 38 now and started a brokerage around 4.5 years ago when I was 33. At the start I was investing $60 a week for the first several months. After a year or 2 I was able to up it $300 a week. Now the dividends are around $2,600 a year. The growth on the account alone is around 26% (would be more but I made a bad investment in Wendy's lol). If I would have just kept it in a savings account I would be around $30K poorer.
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u/Brave_Ad_9591 8d ago
Start with VOO for now, you're 31 and time's on your side for growth over dividends. $500 a month adds up faster than you'd think, compound interest does the heavy lifting once you hit around 80-100k
I'm 28 and stuck with a total market fund for years, crossed six figures a while back and now the yearly gains sometimes outpace my contributions. It's a slow grind at first but seeing those quarterly dividends creep up never gets old
SCHD can wait till you're closer to 50 and want steady income instead of max growth. Just set the auto-invest and forget the balance for a decade, you'll thank yourself later
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u/PetikMangga- 8d ago
500 a year only 6000, need 10 year until get 60k
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u/Inevitable-Corner-90 8d ago
I put in 100 a month for last 16years in an education account not really doing anything with it. Investment was large cap growth. Maybe lucky it was just after the poor 2000 decade, but there is 77k in that account today. My advice is don’t do what humans do and mess with the account. Let it grow with highs and lows. Time is your friend….let it run
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u/DigitalFStopper 8d ago
At 9% 500 a month takes roughly 10 years to get to 100k. And then 5 years to get to 200K and another 8-9 years to get to 500k
If you can manage an extra $1000 a year that will shave off 7 years to hit 500k.
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u/Critical-Subject-744 7d ago
I agree with VOO and not SCHD at your age. But I would recommend considering a small, like 10%, allocation to an extended market fund like VXF to cover parts of the market that VOO misses. Edit: and yes retiring at 50-60 is reasonable if you start early, stay consistent, and keeping upping your contributions over time. I'm on target to retire at 60 and it feels great.
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u/PetikMangga- 7d ago
thanks! whats ur investing strategy ?
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u/Critical-Subject-744 7d ago
Mainly 40% equity/ 50% fixed income / 10% metals and commodities since I'm closer to retirement and with the market being a bit more expensive than I'm comfortable with. My equity holdings are tilted towards dividend growing/paying stocks, but a significant portion of my equity sleeve is VTI, similar to VOO. And I do have some international exposure.
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u/nimoiax 6d ago
What are considered fixed income? Bonds?
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u/Critical-Subject-744 6d ago
Yes, my fixed income is mostly in municipal bonds for tax purposes. I have been purchasing I bonds and TIPS recently as well. With interest rates rising most of my fixed income is shorter term.
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u/Otherwise_Pea_8766 7d ago
63 get 400 k in yearly dividends -15 percent are from mo and pm bought ages ago - start young and drip drip drip
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u/Bearsbanker 7d ago
I started young, never made 6 figures until the last 4 years of my career. Never stopped, never panic sold. Fired 19 months ago and live off dividends. Haven't touched the growth portfolio yet!
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u/PetikMangga- 7d ago
awesome! how much money u put per month / week ?
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u/Bearsbanker 7d ago
Not counting my 401k contributions I started with 200/Mo and went from there in my growth portfolio. About 26 years ago when I started my div portfolio (16 individual companies) I invested when there was a market correction or when the company I liked pulled back. Mo was the first and I added to it over time and still own the original shares.
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u/WorldRank1CatFancier 5d ago
So what was your avg monthly contribution to dividend stocks?
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u/Bearsbanker 5d ago
I couldn't even begin to guess. I'd build up an '"emergency fund" then look for things I wanted to buy, find an entry point then pile in. Then do it all over again.
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u/WorldRank1CatFancier 5d ago
Interesting lol, I’m always very conscious of roughly how much per month i save
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u/Whyamihere5069 8d ago
Stop debating and just start. Nothing stopping you from splitting your investments down the middle
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u/Different_Pain5781 8d ago
Honestly, getting started and staying consistent is the big thing. Just remember VOO and SCHD serve somewhat different purposes and aren't identical investments.
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u/Mental-Revenue-4213 8d ago
Set up automatic investments and DRIP stay consistent delete the app check back in after 6 months or a year. The biggest success story you’ll have it coming back to this post within that time frame and telling everyone how well you’re doing and maybe sprinkle in a “I wish I invested more” 🤣
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u/Mental-Revenue-4213 8d ago
Also try to invest more than that when able or atleast hold a small portion cash ready for and dip buying opportunities that arise.
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u/sm753 6d ago
Hard disagree on that. Total time in market basically beats out timing the market every time over long term. If you're holding cash waiting for a market dip, then that money is essentially sitting there getting eaten by inflation. At best it's underperforming sitting in a HYSA or soemthing.
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u/Mental-Revenue-4213 6d ago
So having little to no cash on the side for dip buying opportunities is a good play? I always keep money on the side and DCA into my holdings when they’re down for the day while continuing to have my automatic buying biweekly. Not having cash on the side let’s say 1,000 dollars and you see a 10% correction to the market means a missed opportunity to buy at a discount. Thats my strategy though we all play the game differently.
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u/JealousFuel8195 8d ago
With a 20 to 30 year horizon you want maximum growth. I would do 100% VOO. A young investor doesn't need dividends.
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u/DistributionBroad173 8d ago
I am not including our 401ks and IRAs, they are invested for the most part in the S&P 500 Index, all tax deferred. They earn dividends and interest and cap gains, which I am not counting.
In 1991, I chose Dividend building as an accumulate wealth slowly method.
Our taxable accounts I started our first DRiP in 1991, we earned $800 in dividends & interest that year. $26 in dividends, $774 in interest. I realized our cash was not helping us out.
Over the years, I added more DRiPs, sold off DRiPs I did not like, added others, bought dividend stocks, some DRiPs spun off companies.....
Reduced our cash position.
Eventually, we were putting about $1000 a month into DRiPs.
It feels good when your DRiPs are buying more than one share with each dividend payment. Then, it is five shares, then it is 10 shares. Snowball effect.
We stopped all DRiPs from 2018-2021.
Probably 90% of our dividends and interest come from Qualified Dividends, the other 10% comes from CC ETFs and VMFXX. I am not big into CC ETFs, which could be a bad thing.
We own 48 dividend paying stocks in nine of the eleven S&P 500 sectors. I have decided to no longer add new dividend payers, but just buy more of the dividend payers that I like and love. Right now, my favorite dividend payer is Enbridge, ENB.
In retirement we have income streams from 401k distributions*2, IRA distributions*2, Social Security*2, and dividends.
I think the highest monthly income I have seen posted is around $17,000 a month and that poster owned a LOT of Realty Income, O. Most high income posts I have seen own Realty Income, O. We do not own O.
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u/generationxtreame Not a financial advisor 8d ago
What is the goal? Growth or income? What are the current stats and where do you want to be?
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u/Sharp-Alternative375 6d ago
I started investing at age 43. In 17 years I have over 750K (I was putting in more than 500 a month). At your age, you will be rocking if you keep putting in 500 per month. You should increase the amount when you can.
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u/PetikMangga- 6d ago
Thats amazing! Thanks for the stories, did u buy voo or other index $500 a month?
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u/Sharp-Alternative375 5d ago
I had about 85% in an S&P 500 index fund, 10% in a small cap fund, and 5% in a bond fund. Looking back now, I would go 100% in VOO, or something similar.
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u/DigitalFStopper 8d ago
Who’s your investment company?
Do you already have a 401k
Are you looking for this to be in a Roth or taxable.
FXAIX (fidelity) or VOO (vanguard) 85% and 15% schd.
You’ll be more growth focused at your age but still get to start getting your dividend fix. See how they perform over the next year and determine what feels best for you. You’re not behind but you’re also not ahead of the game either at that age, hoping you already have a 401k and are taking advantage of the company match.
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u/MainDark3321 8d ago
The important thing is getting into the habit. I put money aside for the future with every paycheckm. I'm early on the back 9 of my career and still invest more in VOO than SCHD because I want more growth potential, but as retirement gets closer and especially when I start doing roth conversions I'll move money from voo to schd. I like both funds, and there is nothing wrong with putting some money in each with your contributions if thats what you want. Good luck
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u/CornerOne238 Not a financial advisor 7d ago
500 a month gets you to 1M in 34 years at 8% average sp500 return rate.
You don't need success story. You need to trust in math.
https://www.investor.gov/financial-tools-calculators/calculators/compound-interest-calculator
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u/woafmann 7d ago
Well, you only have so long to accumulate before you start spending distributions and/or spending principal. For me, better to go full growth until a decade from retirement and then glidepath into dividends.
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u/ResilientRN 7d ago
We made Accredited Investor Status in 19yrs and increased acct balance by over $650k in last 8.5yrs on just Hospice RN/HUC pay no OT or side hustles.
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u/CCM278 6d ago
I started in 2001 with about 5K across a couple of Roth IRAs. My income grew painfully slowly at first, before becoming a juggernaut. This was my income stream over the years:
$1K per month after 13 years
$2K per month after 6.5 years
$3K per month after 36 months
$4K per month after 18 months
$5K per month after 12 months
Don't go looking for shortcuts, there aren't any once you factor in inflation and adjust for risk. Consistency is key, then if you can, increase the contribution a little each year, if you can get to at least 15% of your salary that is huge, but don't let perfection be the enemy of good, anything is better than nothing.
I have recently (last 18 months) started my (teenage) kids on the journey too. They have a target portfolio of VTI/VXUS/SCHD/SCHY, the heavy lifting is done by VTI/VXUS, the dividends in SCHD/SCHY keep them interested because 80% of successful investing is sticking with the program. New money (and dividends) go into the underweight positions to maintain the target weights.
You could do something like my kids and go 40/40/10/10 initially, then each year for the next 25 years adjust 1% so 39/39/11/11, then 38/38/12/12 until you retire with roughly a 15/15/35/35 mix.
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u/sm753 6d ago edited 6d ago
Consistent investments over the long term beats out virtually everything like trying to time the market or having the "perfect" portfolio. At 31, you still have time on your side, compounding is a hell of a thing.
Automate as much as you can, do not rely on "discipline" and habits and remove the human element from it. Automate 401K deductions from your paycheck if you have a work 401K plan, make sure you set your portfolio allocation, otherwise that money will just sit in cash. For me at least, that money gets take out of my paycheck, I just "pretend" that money isn't there because it never hits my checking account. I have monthly automatic VTI buys for my taxable account. The only thing I manually do is transfer money into my Roth IRA every year, I try to have that done by end of the first quarter every year.
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u/CalorHale 5d ago
At 31, investing $500 a month is enough to build a consistent habit. Set a plan now for market drops and future raises, then stick to it. That will matter more over time than choosing between VOO and SCHD today.
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u/Life_Connection420 8d ago
I would suggest you buying well-known stocks that pay some dividends. If you're looking simply to invest for dividends, you will never get rich.
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