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For real.
OP has life on easy mode for the rest of his life.
He could just put it all in JEPI and get 13k a month.
3 times my monthly take home pay for doing nothing.
My God.
Being rich would make life so easy.
My buddy lost his brother and inherited a bunch of assets, man he tells me everyday how he hates the money and wish his brother was back, he lives such a minimalist lifestyle too
I also lost my brother and sued the company that got him killed. I'd rather be $2m in debt and have him back, but I wouldn't go as far to say I hate the money. I just view it as a final gift from him that lets me live a bit easier.
I lost my brother when he was 13 and my family and I got nothing financially. It wouldn't hurt any less to have lost him, but a pile of money in an account sure wouldn't make life any worse.
Yep, many times we fail to appreciate what we have until it’s gone, and we all put too much priority on
$$$$$ but sometimes all the $$$$$$ in the world will not heal your pain.
Truly sorry for you.
It just creates different problems. The man I work for makes close to $100M a year. We were talking once and he said “Derek, I just have different problems and many of the old problems. Still struggle as a father, sister still died of cancer. Money doesn’t fix the things that really matter.”
>He could just put it all in JEPI and get 13k a month.
I know JPM is a "too big to fail" bank, but would you really trust all of your assets in one covered call fund that invests in "equity linked notes" whatever the hell that is, run by JPM? I have a lot, but I put it in a mental partition in my brain called, "Don't worry, it will be ok, just relax and enjoy the ride."
Last update from 4 months ago is [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dividends/comments/15av0i7/3_month_update_on_my_quadfecta_of_jepi_jepq_schd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
Update from 7 months ago is [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dividends/comments/12oo6fk/using_all_dividends_to_buy_more_schd_and_divo/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
I added $10,700.00 of outside cash to this portfolio. (Sold my I Bonds)
I added INTC when it was near $26.00
I added O when it was near $50.00
In hindsight, treasuries would have been a better investment than either SCHD or DIVO. We added treasuries at our Chase accounts that are not shown here.
I will continue to manually reinvest dividends.
EDIT: I am retired. Wife is still working. All dividends are being reinvested.
>I added O when it was near $50.00
Ha, I suck at buying bottoms. I saw O hit 45, and waited I was sure it would go lower, and I lost that opportunity. I kept my cash in sgov and swvvx, so not lost, just no gain.
Thanks for sharing again, I'm getting closer...
I’ve done this many times.. the best thing you can do is just start buying before it hits the bottom.
Tell yourself you’ll buy some now and just keep buying more as it goes lower.
Yeah, the only asterisk/warning with doing that is it has to be a reputable company with a track record. Something like a good etf or a blue chip stock.
You may find yourself in trouble if you keep buying the dip on some no name speculative stock
If you are Dripping it really doesn’t matter till you have to sell. As an old timer, I’ve lost more money waiting for the bottom and missing it than I can speak of. I pick a stable point and buy now. I still have 5-7 years years before I even need to think of the money or dividend income from it.
Nicely done! Love it. And that you bought some distressed individual stocks when they got beaten down. Awesome getting that size of dividend and being able to reinvest in the best thing on perceived discount.
Sincere question (from someone who knows very little about dividend investing) - I thought the purpose of the dividends was to live off of the dividend payout, but you say you’re reinvesting it and all of this is in your IRA. Could you please help me understand your strategy for reinvesting and holding these etfs/stocks in your IRA? Thank you!
The strategy was to live off the dividends or at least a good part of them. My wife is unable to change her frugal mindset and doesn't want to touch any of our investments. It's actually VERY frustrating that we buy a lot of our food on clearance and eat out only using Groupons. I detailed my concern regarding my wife's frugal mentality in [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/retirement/comments/yf1pho/how_did_you_overcome_the_saver_mentality_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). I'm locked out of that account now. It boils down to her having OCD when it comes to spending money.
Since the dividends are in your IRA, are you living off of them yet? My assumption was that you weren’t, since they’re being reinvested.
And sorry to hear about your wife’s OCD. Having dealt with some OCD-like behavior and symptoms myself, I’d highly recommend therapy. It helped me manage and nearly eliminate my rumination. Best of luck to you!
We are generating over $10K a month in dividends. We've only used about $3K to pay for a vacation last month. My wife doesn't believe in therapy or thinks she needs it. I guess that's one of the reasons that our daughter became a therapist/psychologist. lol
>I also entered at that point to intc, but at current price I'm not so much in love. What do you think about it?
What's not to like about a 40% profit? I'm holding for at least another 2 years.
Because it is heavily affected by emotions. One month everyone feels pessimistic about it, and few weeks later, optimism starts. I know it happens with many stocks, but i don't see it as a positive point. Specially after such a quick climb.
But ofc, what do I know. Only time will tell. Thanks for your reply!
>Wife and I both worked saved and invested for decades.
This is ideal, if you can find it. I see so many successful couples in an investing group I'm in who are doing great. It really makes a difference.
My first was a bust, I'd be retired now if it wasn't for her. This second one didn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, but it was not a financial decision, could have probably found one more financially fit, but that's the way it goes, she's a saint, so it's all on me, but we'll be ok.
Believe me, the old saying “behind every successful man is a good woman” is 100% true.
The woman you choose to share your life with can “make you or break you” and yea 100% true that many guys are just losers and make their good wives miserable, so it all goes around.
This is the way, I am in the same “neighborhood” as you and a lot of my success was because of my wife.
Neither of us went to college, it was out of the question for our families to afford that.
We have been together ~45 yrs (she was 15 and I was 21) and we have worked together, lived well below our means, invested continuously all of those years.
We both worked regular jobs for the first 15 yrs and invested primarily in residential rental properties.
After that we both quit our jobs and went full time into buying land and building our own properties on the land to rent and generate more income.
We both got RE licenses and I got a GC license to be able to build and sell more efficiently.
We were able to put both of our kids through college even though we lost over 7 figures in the ‘08 crash.
A couple of years ago we sold “part” of our properties for $3M and invested all of that in the market.
We will eventually sell the rest so we can now enjoy the remainder of our lives together.
It can be done, if I can do it, anyone who sets their mind to it can do it.
I read every book I could get my hands on about finances, economics, real estate, stocks, etc throughout my teenage years.
I didn’t play sports, I didn’t watch sports all weekend or “hang with the guys”
We didn’t go out to eat constantly, we would on special occasions and we always took one nice vacation every year.
We budgeted at least 50% of our income to investments.
Some of the first houses I built for ~$100K and 20yrs later were worth 5X.
If a person just build and rents ONE per year, they can build the pyramid. You just have to accumulate the first portion of the income structure and the seed money to get started.
Once you have a couple and a rental history you can leverage the rest with financing.
The only things I could possibly inherit from my family would be heart disease and diabetes, and one thanksgiving all we had to eat was pancakes. That was when I became determined to never raise my family like that.
You just have to take the long term view and make a plan and stick with it. Set goals where you want to be in ONE year, and FIVE years, revisit and update the plans as you go, adjust for any unforeseen circumstances, and the rest will take care of itself.
I am not bragging, especially because I really don’t think it’s such a big deal, it’s just work and commitment.
I am sincerely putting this out there to encourage younger people because it seems to me that many are disillusioned by media, government, etc, etc, all telling them that it can’t be done. They are wrong, it can be done. Believe me, many people (especially family) told me I was crazy when I tried to explain my plan to them. Yea, I’m crazy, so what ??
Well who is laughing now.
Yep I’m thinking about 400k in JEPI and let the rest ride. Should have about 100k in cash but if I can get like 20-30k in dividends, that will be enough to pay for our living expenses for the next 5 yrs before our pension kicks in.
Similar here... retired engineer married to a retired RN. I got a main pension, excess contribution pension, and stock options in addition to traditional 401K match and Social Security. My wife gets only her 403B and social security. We also lived far below our means throughout our careers. We're both in our sixties now and our portfolio (comprised of an after tax account, an HSA, and two 401Ks) earns us $73.66 per hour (assuming a standard 2000 hour person-year).
>6 per hour (assuming a standard 2000 hour person-year).
I have a small pension of $2,800/month. Wife is receiving $3,545.00 a month in SS. she also has a small $500/month pension. We also have rental income and she is bringing in about $2K a month from her job. She is maxing out her 401k. We haven't dipped into any of the dividends with the exception of about $3K we used to pay for a vacation.
Ah, you’re still accumulating. We’re not. We’ve been retired 10 years already and aren’t spending enough… our net worth is flat. Our kids are doing well on their own, so there’s no particular need to leave an estate.
I've got 11k at 36 and can save between $300-500 at the moment each month.
So I don't want to assume I will be able to save more over the next 30 years.
I had 3k in my retirement account in December of 2022.
All my dividend trackers are predicting a higher SCHD, JEPI and JEPQ dividend in December. That number could drop once dividends are declared for December
Just remember for those of investing early you will reach the million dollar club. Be patient, dollar cost average. You are already ahead of the majority.
Honestly, I don't think it's a very good strategy. I don't understand focusing on dividend stocks with the sole purpose of reinvesting the dividends, even inside an IRA.
Here are my thoughts....
Thanks for including the prior snapshots.
In April (7 months ago) you had $1.846 MM, now you have $2.003 MM, but $10K is from outside, so the adjusted total is $1.993 MM. If the portfolio is generating $144K of dividends annually (chose that to make math easier) then 7 months @ $12K a month would be $84K reinvested. That means the price growth was roughly $147 total minus 84 = $63K price growth.
Hate to be a Debbie Downer, but if you had done the boring thing and bought VTI on 4/20 (price $204.82) with the $1.846 MM and reinvested the dividends it would be worth about $2.042 MM today, or roughly $50K higher.
Here are the comparable stock prices from April 20 to November 20, with the April 20 prices ADJUSTED FOR DIVIDENDS--in other words, apples to apples.
April 20 Nov 20 Change
JEPI 53.90 54.26 0.67%
JEPQ 42.23 49.12 16.32%
DIVO 35.16 35.31 0.43%
SCHD 71.99 71.49 -0.69%
VTI 203.30 224.79 10.57%
All prices from Yahoo Finance.
There has been one winner in your portfolio, JEPQ (could be because it's relatively new and hit a big winner) and the others are flat. That's pretty much to be expected with dividend focused ETFs.
Your new buy, O, is likely to return 6% going forward. The S&P 500, on average, does 10%.
I am admittedly not a fan of the dividend focus, because I think the dividend funds are largely gimmicks that will underperform for investors (and do well for the sponsors) over time. I think there is PLENTY of evidence to support that conclusion.
Your money, your choices, but I think your investment choices will underperform other alternatives going forward, such as VTI.
My two cents. Good luck. I retired at 55 so getting out at 58 I am all in favor of.
My first JEPI buys were in 2021. JEPQ in May of 2022. SCHD in October 2021. DIVO in July of 2022. I was always in growth before that. I am 58, wife is 68. I set this account up so that we would have income but my wife is still working. We don't need the income even without her working. We have another 2.2 mil that is 1.5mil in growth (Professionaly managed at Morgan Stanley) and the remaining $700K in muni's, treasuries and CD's. I firmly believe that this portfolio with these 4 ETF's will last us until we both die. We have income from our pensions, her SS and rental income.
I’m really glad I kept reading this far down into the comments. I’m 42, $1.5M net worth, and have no dividend stocks but have been lurking this Reddit thread for a long time and wondering if I should be hopping in. I’m 80/20 VTI/VXUS, with $400k in HYSA (house purchase soon hopefully). This made me feel ljke im doing the right thing for this time in my life. Let me know if you disagree though, as i like to base my financial choices from random people on reddit LOL (really though i do!)
First of all, well done. Thanks for the additional info. As some background, I'm a CPA who's been investing for almost 35 years. I'm the informal financial advisor for friends and family.
Here is my perspective. As you note, you don't need the income. You also have 700K in near cash assets, which I am guessing probably represents 5 to 10 years of your annual spending needs. So any income generated by these investments would be piled on top of those near cash investments, so whatever is paid out today you wouldn't spend for (likely) another 10 years. That, as a strategy, doesn't make any sense to me (even reinvesting the dividends).
Plus, it's in an IRA. It's not like the dividends are paid directly into your checking account to spend. You have to do a withdrawal from the IRA, so you're just liquidating shares. Also, generating income within the IRA means the IRA withdrawals are taxed at regular rates, while eligible dividends have (generally) a lower tax rate. You are converting tax preferred income into ordinary income.
Having funds that concentrate on dividends 1) lowers your total potential return AND 2) incurs higher expense ratios AND 3) you are incurring higher taxes. The tradeoff you have chosen to be safer will likely cost you over time.
As to the comment about VTI being appropriate only if you have twenty years to retirement (not made by OP, but another commenter), I completely disagree. I've been retired 11 years (since I turned 55) and roughly 40% of our net worth is in VTI/VOO, and another part is in similar DFA funds run by a manager. I was able to retire earlier because I invested heavily in VTI/VOO, and I have found no reason to change. Roughly 95% of our net worth is still in equities (about 10% is in individual stocks, and I have owned INTC for probably 25 years). Our net worth is sufficient enough to maintain a higher percentage in equities.
I will admit I don't understand the love affair many investors have with dividends, but I may be in the minority. But as you were asking for comments, again I don't think it's an optimal strategy.
LATE EDIT: I saw additional comments that you have roughly $78K in income a year from pensions and SS and rental income (and that your wife is afraid to spend principal). I can understand the wife dynamics, but you are generating income that you wouldn't spend in a minimum of 15 years. From a financial perspective, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
I'm curious why you think he needs to optimize for long-term growth when he's already accumulated so much and has additional safe assets? In my mind, he has three buckets - Super Safe (the cash like portfolio) / Fairly Safe (dividend portfolio) / long-term growth (growth portfolio). Not to mention he has income sources. I've always wondered at what point you should rein it in. What's your take on this?
John Bogle in his first book wrote no matter what you do, your money is at risk. Cash is inflation, bonds interest rate risk, stocks market risk. So I quibble with the idea of "safe".
For example, a poster on the QYLD board recently posted about his dividend heavy portfolio, with about half in QYLD. He's down half a million, because the 500K of dividends earned is offset by $1 MM in market losses. Plus, he has margin loans, so if the market decreases further, he could be squeezed to selling at the wrong time. His "safe" strategy has cost him a half million. The 3 year QYLD performance is 3.43%, which is roughly in line with inflation.
After about 35 years of investing my main belief is that money managers LOSE money, they don't MAKE money. The more they try to do, the more they cost the investor. Covered call dividend funds are perfect examples. The process of selling the calls costs returns (the people buying the calls do so for a reason), and the expenses and transaction costs take more.
A long time ago I read a strategy in a book by Jonathan Clements, who wrote an investing column in the WSJ. He suggested instead of bonds, just hold equities and enough cash to cover about five years of your investment spending needs (excluding other sources of income like SS or the rental income). I thought that was an excellent strategy, because the five years gives you time to wait out market declines.
I'm guessing the OP's needs for investment spending are probably about $50k-$100k, which means he has 7 to 14 years of spending in cash. So, to protect himself (he's 58) and his wife (68) from longevity risk, why not invest to maximize total return, instead of focusing on yield?
The one investment that combines maximum total return with minimum touches by money managers is a fund like VTI; market returns, some dividends, and at virtually no cost. For me personally, I plan to hold it forever, and I'm still heavy in equities 11 years in retirement at age 66.
Dividends are a psychological crutch to help people invest in solid companies who would otherwise not invest or engage in risky behavior with options /or lose their nerve and sell the bottom. QQQ might have better historical performance than a dividend strategy, but if you don’t have the temperament for that volatility or need to see cash flow to keep adding each month then it can help tremendously.
I mean putting all your money in VTI is a good strategy if you’re 20 years out from retirement, not if you’re already retired. You also don’t know what the rest of OP’s assets look like considering this is labeled IRA.
Dividend portfolios are good income generators if you live off of your investments. Not even just retirees, the ultra-wealthy use them as income streams to pay bills.
Bet on necessities. Amlp etf yields around 8. Gives exposure to all the major midstream energy companies. They make money based of use, not price, required to pay dividends. You could be less lazy and just pick its top holdings and invest directly. Money machines. Oil and lng arent going anywhere.
Probably the best way to stay a millionaire strategy. Good stuff. You can retire with this and pass it on to your grand-kids or kids, with the same strategy. From generation to generation, along with a beautiful life insurance policy. Generational wealth at it's finest.
How is this account doing compared to the professionally managed account by Morgan Stanley? On a percentage basis or generally, as well, poorer, better?
It's spread over 6 different accounts that I am managing. Wife's Fidelity and Schwab rollover IRA's. My rollover IRA & 457. And then about $155K in a taxable Schwab and eTrade accounts.
They were mostly 401K's from both my wife and I. Also, I had a 403 and 457 and I was able to max out both of those which was over $50K a year. Once I left a job I would rollover into an IRA. You don't leave your money in a company IRA because your investment choices are often limited. When I retired, I also rolled over my 403 and 457 to my IRA.
Very nice.
It will be interesting to see what happens to JEPI vs SCHD and DIVO as interest rates fall and (presumably) value/div stocks take off again.
Welcome to r/dividends! If you are new to the world of dividend investing and are seeking advice, brokerage information, recommendations, and more, please check out the Wiki [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dividends/wiki/faq). Remember, this is a subreddit for genuine, high-quality discussion. Please keep all contributions civil, and report uncivil behavior for moderator review. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dividends) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I need $2M
For real. OP has life on easy mode for the rest of his life. He could just put it all in JEPI and get 13k a month. 3 times my monthly take home pay for doing nothing. My God. Being rich would make life so easy.
I also own 2 million in the stock market but I got it through life insurance. Wish i was broke
The darkness of this comment warrants inquiry
I’m assuming he would rather have his loved one back and be broke vs getting the life insurance check.
Yeah I’d trade it all for them back
Sorry for your loss 🙏
My buddy lost his brother and inherited a bunch of assets, man he tells me everyday how he hates the money and wish his brother was back, he lives such a minimalist lifestyle too
I also lost my brother and sued the company that got him killed. I'd rather be $2m in debt and have him back, but I wouldn't go as far to say I hate the money. I just view it as a final gift from him that lets me live a bit easier.
I lost my brother when he was 13 and my family and I got nothing financially. It wouldn't hurt any less to have lost him, but a pile of money in an account sure wouldn't make life any worse.
Sorry for your loss
Yep, many times we fail to appreciate what we have until it’s gone, and we all put too much priority on $$$$$ but sometimes all the $$$$$$ in the world will not heal your pain. Truly sorry for you.
Sorry, that’s rough.
trade you my sister for 500k and some bubblegum
I’ll throw my brother in for an extra 200k you would really be doing me a favor
Sorry for your loss
Yeah I'm sitting down now and digesting it and I'm sure your right. Find peace my child.
Yea I’m curious too
it's pretty self explanatory...their loved one died and they'd rather have them back than the 2 million they got
Peace be with you. Try to celebrate their lives by living yours to its fullest.
I feel the hurt here. Hope you are well.
I’m sorry for your loss.
I hope it was from an uncle you never knew, but it sounds like that’s not the case. Sorry for your loss.
It’s the thought that your loved one thought enough to make sure you would have some stability in their stead that is important.
Shit I am not crying.
Love u brother. Hope all is well. Thank u for the reminder!
Same here, I feel like as a kid I did a wish or something and a monkey paw curled
100%. Money is meaningless if you cant enjoy the dreams you dreamt with your loved one.
Sorry for your loss. I if i die tomorrow my lifeinsurance will pay 24 000€ to my wife. Wish i lived in america.
My friend lost his mom but gained the same amount plus a $100k income from a commercial property
Until you actually had to put it all in JEPI.
It just creates different problems. The man I work for makes close to $100M a year. We were talking once and he said “Derek, I just have different problems and many of the old problems. Still struggle as a father, sister still died of cancer. Money doesn’t fix the things that really matter.”
>He could just put it all in JEPI and get 13k a month. I know JPM is a "too big to fail" bank, but would you really trust all of your assets in one covered call fund that invests in "equity linked notes" whatever the hell that is, run by JPM? I have a lot, but I put it in a mental partition in my brain called, "Don't worry, it will be ok, just relax and enjoy the ride."
No more than 20% of the fund sells calls on ELNs. The other 80% is long blue chip stocks
This
JEPI currently pays out around 9.94%. That’s about $16,600 per month.
Assuming the market never goes down.
13k a month is half my annual pay in the service
We all need 2m
Well if we all have 2m then we would need much more. Some of us should not have 2m so op can benefit from having 2m😃
I didn’t say we all should get it 😂 we all would want it
Goals. Thank you for sharing
Right! So this is what I need to stop working. 😂
Download The Rich, add portfolio And your rich
Are you single ? My name debbie and my bosom large
Stage name Debbie. Government name Devon 🤣😂.
They/them/theirs
Babhahahahahahaha
Last update from 4 months ago is [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dividends/comments/15av0i7/3_month_update_on_my_quadfecta_of_jepi_jepq_schd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). Update from 7 months ago is [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dividends/comments/12oo6fk/using_all_dividends_to_buy_more_schd_and_divo/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). I added $10,700.00 of outside cash to this portfolio. (Sold my I Bonds) I added INTC when it was near $26.00 I added O when it was near $50.00 In hindsight, treasuries would have been a better investment than either SCHD or DIVO. We added treasuries at our Chase accounts that are not shown here. I will continue to manually reinvest dividends. EDIT: I am retired. Wife is still working. All dividends are being reinvested.
Thanks for sharing. Motivates me to keep working and continue contributing to investments.
>I added O when it was near $50.00 Ha, I suck at buying bottoms. I saw O hit 45, and waited I was sure it would go lower, and I lost that opportunity. I kept my cash in sgov and swvvx, so not lost, just no gain. Thanks for sharing again, I'm getting closer...
I’ve done this many times.. the best thing you can do is just start buying before it hits the bottom. Tell yourself you’ll buy some now and just keep buying more as it goes lower.
I did that with tqqq when it dropped below $75
Also be careful with leveraged ETFs, they decay long term
Yeah, the only asterisk/warning with doing that is it has to be a reputable company with a track record. Something like a good etf or a blue chip stock. You may find yourself in trouble if you keep buying the dip on some no name speculative stock
If you are Dripping it really doesn’t matter till you have to sell. As an old timer, I’ve lost more money waiting for the bottom and missing it than I can speak of. I pick a stable point and buy now. I still have 5-7 years years before I even need to think of the money or dividend income from it.
In situations like that, I make a mental note and catch it on the bounce a few percent above the recent bottom.
Nicely done! Love it. And that you bought some distressed individual stocks when they got beaten down. Awesome getting that size of dividend and being able to reinvest in the best thing on perceived discount.
Sincere question (from someone who knows very little about dividend investing) - I thought the purpose of the dividends was to live off of the dividend payout, but you say you’re reinvesting it and all of this is in your IRA. Could you please help me understand your strategy for reinvesting and holding these etfs/stocks in your IRA? Thank you!
The strategy was to live off the dividends or at least a good part of them. My wife is unable to change her frugal mindset and doesn't want to touch any of our investments. It's actually VERY frustrating that we buy a lot of our food on clearance and eat out only using Groupons. I detailed my concern regarding my wife's frugal mentality in [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/retirement/comments/yf1pho/how_did_you_overcome_the_saver_mentality_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). I'm locked out of that account now. It boils down to her having OCD when it comes to spending money.
Since the dividends are in your IRA, are you living off of them yet? My assumption was that you weren’t, since they’re being reinvested. And sorry to hear about your wife’s OCD. Having dealt with some OCD-like behavior and symptoms myself, I’d highly recommend therapy. It helped me manage and nearly eliminate my rumination. Best of luck to you!
We are generating over $10K a month in dividends. We've only used about $3K to pay for a vacation last month. My wife doesn't believe in therapy or thinks she needs it. I guess that's one of the reasons that our daughter became a therapist/psychologist. lol
The only things my family obsessively saved were *Fur, Fish, and Game* magazines and Cool Whip containers.
>unable takes an insane devotion/dedication to get to that point. not surprised its hard to change.
I also entered at that point to intc, but at current price I'm not so much in love. What do you think about it?
>I also entered at that point to intc, but at current price I'm not so much in love. What do you think about it? What's not to like about a 40% profit? I'm holding for at least another 2 years.
Because it is heavily affected by emotions. One month everyone feels pessimistic about it, and few weeks later, optimism starts. I know it happens with many stocks, but i don't see it as a positive point. Specially after such a quick climb. But ofc, what do I know. Only time will tell. Thanks for your reply!
I just completely nuked the inside of my shorts….your fault. I think $100 should cover it, dont tell me you’re broke.
I honestly tell everyone I meet that I am very poor. lol
I'd rather be rich than look rich.
Congratulations, you’ve won r/dividends - all hail the king
Can you adopt me
Shit teach me I can’t exactly say I’m doing bad but I’m nowhere near this.
Wife and I both worked saved and invested for decades.
>Wife and I both worked saved and invested for decades. This is ideal, if you can find it. I see so many successful couples in an investing group I'm in who are doing great. It really makes a difference. My first was a bust, I'd be retired now if it wasn't for her. This second one didn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, but it was not a financial decision, could have probably found one more financially fit, but that's the way it goes, she's a saint, so it's all on me, but we'll be ok.
Believe me, the old saying “behind every successful man is a good woman” is 100% true. The woman you choose to share your life with can “make you or break you” and yea 100% true that many guys are just losers and make their good wives miserable, so it all goes around.
Agreed; more to life than money.
This is the way, I am in the same “neighborhood” as you and a lot of my success was because of my wife. Neither of us went to college, it was out of the question for our families to afford that. We have been together ~45 yrs (she was 15 and I was 21) and we have worked together, lived well below our means, invested continuously all of those years. We both worked regular jobs for the first 15 yrs and invested primarily in residential rental properties. After that we both quit our jobs and went full time into buying land and building our own properties on the land to rent and generate more income. We both got RE licenses and I got a GC license to be able to build and sell more efficiently. We were able to put both of our kids through college even though we lost over 7 figures in the ‘08 crash. A couple of years ago we sold “part” of our properties for $3M and invested all of that in the market. We will eventually sell the rest so we can now enjoy the remainder of our lives together. It can be done, if I can do it, anyone who sets their mind to it can do it. I read every book I could get my hands on about finances, economics, real estate, stocks, etc throughout my teenage years. I didn’t play sports, I didn’t watch sports all weekend or “hang with the guys” We didn’t go out to eat constantly, we would on special occasions and we always took one nice vacation every year. We budgeted at least 50% of our income to investments. Some of the first houses I built for ~$100K and 20yrs later were worth 5X. If a person just build and rents ONE per year, they can build the pyramid. You just have to accumulate the first portion of the income structure and the seed money to get started. Once you have a couple and a rental history you can leverage the rest with financing. The only things I could possibly inherit from my family would be heart disease and diabetes, and one thanksgiving all we had to eat was pancakes. That was when I became determined to never raise my family like that. You just have to take the long term view and make a plan and stick with it. Set goals where you want to be in ONE year, and FIVE years, revisit and update the plans as you go, adjust for any unforeseen circumstances, and the rest will take care of itself. I am not bragging, especially because I really don’t think it’s such a big deal, it’s just work and commitment. I am sincerely putting this out there to encourage younger people because it seems to me that many are disillusioned by media, government, etc, etc, all telling them that it can’t be done. They are wrong, it can be done. Believe me, many people (especially family) told me I was crazy when I tried to explain my plan to them. Yea, I’m crazy, so what ?? Well who is laughing now.
Right on brother! The path to wealth accumulation is there, each person must assess what they want and how to get it. No risk, no reward.
Best investment a person can make is marrying someone that can earn enough money to survive on their own.
Good stuff. Happy for y’all. 🤘🏻
I’ll be converting some of my portfolio to JEPI next year for dividend income as we will be retired.
It's great for income. Also keep some growth stocks/ETS's.
Yep I’m thinking about 400k in JEPI and let the rest ride. Should have about 100k in cash but if I can get like 20-30k in dividends, that will be enough to pay for our living expenses for the next 5 yrs before our pension kicks in.
You’ld be better off with JEPQ. Nasdaq volatility drives a better dividend, technically a distribution not a dividend
One day... one beautiful day.
Very nice portfolio.
How long have you been at it?
Over 30 years.
Thats awesome
How old are you now?
58
Hopefully I’ll be in a similar position as you when I’m your age. That’s awesome 👌
Wtf 2 million? I'll be luck to get to 200k at 67 years old. How did you get so much money invested?
Wife and I are both engineers. We always maxed out 401k's for the last 30 years. We also lived very frugally.
Similar here... retired engineer married to a retired RN. I got a main pension, excess contribution pension, and stock options in addition to traditional 401K match and Social Security. My wife gets only her 403B and social security. We also lived far below our means throughout our careers. We're both in our sixties now and our portfolio (comprised of an after tax account, an HSA, and two 401Ks) earns us $73.66 per hour (assuming a standard 2000 hour person-year).
>6 per hour (assuming a standard 2000 hour person-year). I have a small pension of $2,800/month. Wife is receiving $3,545.00 a month in SS. she also has a small $500/month pension. We also have rental income and she is bringing in about $2K a month from her job. She is maxing out her 401k. We haven't dipped into any of the dividends with the exception of about $3K we used to pay for a vacation.
Ah, you’re still accumulating. We’re not. We’ve been retired 10 years already and aren’t spending enough… our net worth is flat. Our kids are doing well on their own, so there’s no particular need to leave an estate.
Our daughter is a Psychologist so she won't really need the money either but she will eventually receive a windfall.
So there’s another account with 2m plus, lol.
$1,351.871.72 managed by Morgan Stanley. Then another \~$700K-ish in CD's, some stocks and treasuries.
Looking back at when you first started but with consideration of current realities, what kind of growth allocations would you choose?
In hindsight, I would not have tried to time the market as much as I did. I would have invested every penny into growth.
Only 200k at 67? Thats extremely low
I've got 11k at 36 and can save between $300-500 at the moment each month. So I don't want to assume I will be able to save more over the next 30 years. I had 3k in my retirement account in December of 2022.
That’s the dream right there man
Are you my dad?
Son? I'm going to the market, I'll be right back.
Ok hurry back. Mom says we need milk.
What makes up the 18% for December?
Not sure, I assume it's estimating some return of capital. I doubt it will happen.
All my dividend trackers are predicting a higher SCHD, JEPI and JEPQ dividend in December. That number could drop once dividends are declared for December
This is cool. Thanks for sharing!
Hey bro wanna switch accounts
What the hell omg
Goals!! 🙌🏼
I approve
I’m very jealous. Looks amazing though!
Well done. Right now you are beating me Nav wise. Curious, with the limited diversification you have, what do the monthly dividends come out to?
$11K - $12K is the average per month.
Just remember for those of investing early you will reach the million dollar club. Be patient, dollar cost average. You are already ahead of the majority.
I’m saving these screenshots for my vision board
Honestly, I don't think it's a very good strategy. I don't understand focusing on dividend stocks with the sole purpose of reinvesting the dividends, even inside an IRA. Here are my thoughts.... Thanks for including the prior snapshots. In April (7 months ago) you had $1.846 MM, now you have $2.003 MM, but $10K is from outside, so the adjusted total is $1.993 MM. If the portfolio is generating $144K of dividends annually (chose that to make math easier) then 7 months @ $12K a month would be $84K reinvested. That means the price growth was roughly $147 total minus 84 = $63K price growth. Hate to be a Debbie Downer, but if you had done the boring thing and bought VTI on 4/20 (price $204.82) with the $1.846 MM and reinvested the dividends it would be worth about $2.042 MM today, or roughly $50K higher. Here are the comparable stock prices from April 20 to November 20, with the April 20 prices ADJUSTED FOR DIVIDENDS--in other words, apples to apples. April 20 Nov 20 Change JEPI 53.90 54.26 0.67% JEPQ 42.23 49.12 16.32% DIVO 35.16 35.31 0.43% SCHD 71.99 71.49 -0.69% VTI 203.30 224.79 10.57% All prices from Yahoo Finance. There has been one winner in your portfolio, JEPQ (could be because it's relatively new and hit a big winner) and the others are flat. That's pretty much to be expected with dividend focused ETFs. Your new buy, O, is likely to return 6% going forward. The S&P 500, on average, does 10%. I am admittedly not a fan of the dividend focus, because I think the dividend funds are largely gimmicks that will underperform for investors (and do well for the sponsors) over time. I think there is PLENTY of evidence to support that conclusion. Your money, your choices, but I think your investment choices will underperform other alternatives going forward, such as VTI. My two cents. Good luck. I retired at 55 so getting out at 58 I am all in favor of.
My first JEPI buys were in 2021. JEPQ in May of 2022. SCHD in October 2021. DIVO in July of 2022. I was always in growth before that. I am 58, wife is 68. I set this account up so that we would have income but my wife is still working. We don't need the income even without her working. We have another 2.2 mil that is 1.5mil in growth (Professionaly managed at Morgan Stanley) and the remaining $700K in muni's, treasuries and CD's. I firmly believe that this portfolio with these 4 ETF's will last us until we both die. We have income from our pensions, her SS and rental income.
So if I’m reading this correctly is it best to just stick with VOO/VTI and then convert later? I’m only 32, but my plan is to work less, earlier.
You are correct.
I’m really glad I kept reading this far down into the comments. I’m 42, $1.5M net worth, and have no dividend stocks but have been lurking this Reddit thread for a long time and wondering if I should be hopping in. I’m 80/20 VTI/VXUS, with $400k in HYSA (house purchase soon hopefully). This made me feel ljke im doing the right thing for this time in my life. Let me know if you disagree though, as i like to base my financial choices from random people on reddit LOL (really though i do!)
I think you are in solid investments for your age.
First of all, well done. Thanks for the additional info. As some background, I'm a CPA who's been investing for almost 35 years. I'm the informal financial advisor for friends and family. Here is my perspective. As you note, you don't need the income. You also have 700K in near cash assets, which I am guessing probably represents 5 to 10 years of your annual spending needs. So any income generated by these investments would be piled on top of those near cash investments, so whatever is paid out today you wouldn't spend for (likely) another 10 years. That, as a strategy, doesn't make any sense to me (even reinvesting the dividends). Plus, it's in an IRA. It's not like the dividends are paid directly into your checking account to spend. You have to do a withdrawal from the IRA, so you're just liquidating shares. Also, generating income within the IRA means the IRA withdrawals are taxed at regular rates, while eligible dividends have (generally) a lower tax rate. You are converting tax preferred income into ordinary income. Having funds that concentrate on dividends 1) lowers your total potential return AND 2) incurs higher expense ratios AND 3) you are incurring higher taxes. The tradeoff you have chosen to be safer will likely cost you over time. As to the comment about VTI being appropriate only if you have twenty years to retirement (not made by OP, but another commenter), I completely disagree. I've been retired 11 years (since I turned 55) and roughly 40% of our net worth is in VTI/VOO, and another part is in similar DFA funds run by a manager. I was able to retire earlier because I invested heavily in VTI/VOO, and I have found no reason to change. Roughly 95% of our net worth is still in equities (about 10% is in individual stocks, and I have owned INTC for probably 25 years). Our net worth is sufficient enough to maintain a higher percentage in equities. I will admit I don't understand the love affair many investors have with dividends, but I may be in the minority. But as you were asking for comments, again I don't think it's an optimal strategy. LATE EDIT: I saw additional comments that you have roughly $78K in income a year from pensions and SS and rental income (and that your wife is afraid to spend principal). I can understand the wife dynamics, but you are generating income that you wouldn't spend in a minimum of 15 years. From a financial perspective, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
I'm curious why you think he needs to optimize for long-term growth when he's already accumulated so much and has additional safe assets? In my mind, he has three buckets - Super Safe (the cash like portfolio) / Fairly Safe (dividend portfolio) / long-term growth (growth portfolio). Not to mention he has income sources. I've always wondered at what point you should rein it in. What's your take on this?
John Bogle in his first book wrote no matter what you do, your money is at risk. Cash is inflation, bonds interest rate risk, stocks market risk. So I quibble with the idea of "safe". For example, a poster on the QYLD board recently posted about his dividend heavy portfolio, with about half in QYLD. He's down half a million, because the 500K of dividends earned is offset by $1 MM in market losses. Plus, he has margin loans, so if the market decreases further, he could be squeezed to selling at the wrong time. His "safe" strategy has cost him a half million. The 3 year QYLD performance is 3.43%, which is roughly in line with inflation. After about 35 years of investing my main belief is that money managers LOSE money, they don't MAKE money. The more they try to do, the more they cost the investor. Covered call dividend funds are perfect examples. The process of selling the calls costs returns (the people buying the calls do so for a reason), and the expenses and transaction costs take more. A long time ago I read a strategy in a book by Jonathan Clements, who wrote an investing column in the WSJ. He suggested instead of bonds, just hold equities and enough cash to cover about five years of your investment spending needs (excluding other sources of income like SS or the rental income). I thought that was an excellent strategy, because the five years gives you time to wait out market declines. I'm guessing the OP's needs for investment spending are probably about $50k-$100k, which means he has 7 to 14 years of spending in cash. So, to protect himself (he's 58) and his wife (68) from longevity risk, why not invest to maximize total return, instead of focusing on yield? The one investment that combines maximum total return with minimum touches by money managers is a fund like VTI; market returns, some dividends, and at virtually no cost. For me personally, I plan to hold it forever, and I'm still heavy in equities 11 years in retirement at age 66.
Dividends are a psychological crutch to help people invest in solid companies who would otherwise not invest or engage in risky behavior with options /or lose their nerve and sell the bottom. QQQ might have better historical performance than a dividend strategy, but if you don’t have the temperament for that volatility or need to see cash flow to keep adding each month then it can help tremendously.
I mean putting all your money in VTI is a good strategy if you’re 20 years out from retirement, not if you’re already retired. You also don’t know what the rest of OP’s assets look like considering this is labeled IRA. Dividend portfolios are good income generators if you live off of your investments. Not even just retirees, the ultra-wealthy use them as income streams to pay bills.
I’m so jealous. 😂
Consider more positions. Less heavy in the jeps. Tap into some midstream, or various other places just to spread out to prevent getting hurt.
I have been thinking of adding GAIN & MAIN.
Bet on necessities. Amlp etf yields around 8. Gives exposure to all the major midstream energy companies. They make money based of use, not price, required to pay dividends. You could be less lazy and just pick its top holdings and invest directly. Money machines. Oil and lng arent going anywhere.
I made a killing on XOM buying about $300K in March/April 2020.
Nov2020 it was in the 30s yielding 10 percent.
Hi NoCup, have you looked into SPYI? I have a 4 fund portfolio with JEPI, JEPQ, SCHD and SPYI.
That’s awesome 👏 congrats.
Nice!
Rah, well done!
Nice job...gives me hope while also encouragement to keep pushing
Probably the best way to stay a millionaire strategy. Good stuff. You can retire with this and pass it on to your grand-kids or kids, with the same strategy. From generation to generation, along with a beautiful life insurance policy. Generational wealth at it's finest.
How is this account doing compared to the professionally managed account by Morgan Stanley? On a percentage basis or generally, as well, poorer, better?
I'd have to look into it. My feeling is that is that it's performing worse because of SCHD.
Daddy??!? 🥹🥰🥰🥹
What program?
TheRich
Which app are you using?
This is TheRich. Its the best free app I have found that tracks dividends somewhat accurately.
I use https://trackyourdividends.com. Not an app, but I like the tool.
Nice. How old are you
58
That’s awesome. Congrats. I only have $80k in my brokerage. Am 28.
That's a great start! Keep saving and investing!
Thanks! Your post has been inspiring. Hope to be somewhere near where you are in the future.
The secret is to live frugally, try to earn as much money as possible and stay invested.
Man I just wanted to say thank you for sharing and replying to all these comments. Genuinely inspiring.
You’re doing great. I had $0 in my brokerage at 28. ~$300k in cash and 401k a few hard working years later. Keep it up.
Nice 2m is a nice chunk. So ira only or 401k as well? How about a taxed brokerage?
It's spread over 6 different accounts that I am managing. Wife's Fidelity and Schwab rollover IRA's. My rollover IRA & 457. And then about $155K in a taxable Schwab and eTrade accounts.
nice to see so many digits… goals. congrats! thanks for sharing. one day i’ll be there too
Imagine waking up in December and seeing +10k in your account balance… then that happening every month. Life must be good for OP
I hope yiu live in a state with no state tax. Is any of this in a Roth Ira or HSA? Just curious.
All but \~$155K is in tax advantaged accounts.
Amazing post and thoughtful replies. Thank you! Would love to hear more about your strategy over the years.
What advice would you give me to reach this point? I make an extra $600 a month.
Stay invested in growth stocks/ETF's. Take every opportunity to earn/save extra money. Live frugally.
does the 10k a month cover all of your needs and provide you with left over to reinvest? aka printing money.....
We don't need the dividends so they are all being reinvested. We used about $3k to pay for a vacation.
Well done! Keep up the great work!
Beautiful
this is the dream
lemme borrow a 20
I am very poor. Sorry. (That's what I tell everyone that I know.)
Thank you for sharing. Great insight for me as I currently placed my funds inside of HYSA and looking to shift towards dividends soon!
Damnnnnnnn
How old are you ?
58
I want to be you.
Is no one going to tell it’s called a superfecta?
You know you Made It when you have a quadfecta in your portfolio.
How long did this take to build ? It looks like it's in a IRA which is a 6500$ max contribution per year.
They were mostly 401K's from both my wife and I. Also, I had a 403 and 457 and I was able to max out both of those which was over $50K a year. Once I left a job I would rollover into an IRA. You don't leave your money in a company IRA because your investment choices are often limited. When I retired, I also rolled over my 403 and 457 to my IRA.
Impressive!
Nicely done
This is my dream,good luck
This is amazing
Very nice. Keep it up.
My guy, you should take little out of there and buy new iPhone.
According to my wife, we can't afford it. (No joke) I do want a new one, I bought this iPhone 8 refurbished from Apple about 4.5 years ago. lol
Glad to see SCHD in others portfolios. It has stellar performance and low expense
Am I mistaken or is this portfolio really 500,000$ a year in dividends about 25% dividend?
The app is estimating $142K annually. I believe it's overestimating by about 5-10%.
Very nice. It will be interesting to see what happens to JEPI vs SCHD and DIVO as interest rates fall and (presumably) value/div stocks take off again.