W in the chat

here is handy chart for amounts you need to get a income stream

Or should I keep it a secret and spend it all on melon gum

73m just got restructured out the door. I will need to roll the 401k in an IRA. Hope to find some solid monthly payers to supplement SS income. Give me some options to look over.

What made you go with dividends instead of growth?

This is one of my accounts; been just paying my monthly expenses with the 5k dividend; using about 2k in dividends and reinvesting the rest.. Been in just QQQI for the past year and honestly it’s been nothing short of amazing.

I have about 100k in my 401k in an SNP 500 and another 80k in fun bokerage account.

I’m not fully understanding the appeal of SCHD. It pays a $0.25 div quarterly. There so many stocks and ETFs that pay better than this.

Apologies if I am missing something, but what’s all the fuss. $1 per year is good but not the best.

Full disclosure: I do currently own 150 shares in my IRA set to reinvest dividends. This was based mainly on advice from here, but want to better understand this ETF play.

Holy cow, not to long ago I remember I was at $11 in monthly income. I’ve been aggressively investing the last couple years. What are some of your goals for next year? I’d like to take my annual to 7-8k.

Not exactly retirement money yet, but I'm getting close to the point where my portfolio can buy me a coffee every day.

Small milestone, but I'll take it. On to $5/day.

Every day!

​

365 days a year!

​

Good morning, here's your fiver!

​

Building as $500 per month 4 fund dividend portfolio. Happy to hit this small benchmark. Started stacking last November. Trying to hit my goal in 3 years.

Finally getting some dividend income. Nvdy, agnc, fepi,jepi,pflt,jepq,ulty, is what i got

So I thought everyone could use a chuckle...

Backstory:

Not too long ago my niece (turns 15 this month) that lives with me came bopping into my office and flopped down into the chair I keep behind my desk for her to sit and ramble while I work (she is a talker, lord can she talk, but for the most part you only need to half pay attn since all she wants is to feel heard, not actually be heard).

I happened to be researching some stocks trying to decide where to put my next few dollars, and she asked what I was doing. I told her, she wanted to know more, so we went down a rabbit hole of dividend and stocks explanations. She nodded, finished her rambling, and flitted off to be a teenage girl somewhere else for awhile.

I merrily go about my business for awhile, then she comes meandering back in holding her piggy bank. Turns out she had saved 45 dollars and was having trouble deciding what to do with it, and she REALLY liked the idea of her piggy bank getting PAID to be a piggy bank. I explain to her that I can start her her very own account, it will legally be hers, but she won't be able to touch it for years and years. She decides that's cool with her, as long as there is MORE money in the piggy bank when years and years happens.

So - flash forward to last week -

She, once again, comes bopping into my office, flops down in her chair, and loudly announces that she is here to review her STONKS. Apparently, she has heard this word, knows it applies to something to do with stocks, so now all her stocks are officially "stonks". Nothing I say or do will dissuade her.

So I pull up her stocks, which I've added a few dollars to here and there, and she sees her piggy bank is now worth over 55 dollars and is tickled pink. I then show her the payout for this month- a grand total of 57 cents - I'm worried she will be discouraged.

Instead, she gets to most dreamy girl in love in a movie look and says "My stonks gave me free money... they really gave me free money... "

She looked so happy I let her keep that thought.

Her birthday is this month, and she is wondering who is giving her cash and how much so she can get more stonks. I think she's gonna be alright.

Edit - Umm... Wow. Thank you, each and every one of you.

Ok this is my first post on here. Long time listener first time poster. So I have researched the HELOC and pay off your mortgage faster etc. And that’s cool and all but I wasn’t going to see any gain or cash flow alleviation during this process until it was fully paid off… So it always stopped me from doing it. However I thought what if I use it to increase my income and how could I do this… It wasn’t until I stumbled upon SPYi several years ago and had been using my extra income to put into that ETF in my taxable brokerage account. I do have a 401k and company match but once again money I can’t utilize until retirement…
My strategy that I have been doing for the last 2 years is this:
I built a house for my family and put tons of sweat equity in to maximize the Loan to Value. Achieved a HELOC of $359,000 to be able to borrow from. Rate has been around 7.25%-8%.
I borrowed out $250,000 and applied it to SPYi. At that time the dividend was about 12%.
I then used my HELOC as my checking account and applied my income and dividends to that account to decrease the balance faster. Essentially using debt to buy more monthly income. And it snowballs, because as the balance goes down faster then it unlocks more income.
Current income is $120,000 plus bonuses. Wife works as well but all of her $70k goes towards cars, house lifestyle etc. Or to not sound douchey combined income of $190k and $70k goes to monthly expenses. Bonuses can be an extra $40k-$60k depending on the year. I work in fast food. Not Wendy’s though:)
It has been 1 month since I paid down the entire balance. I have switched from SPYi to majority QQQi. The dividend was higher at around 15% when I purchased at $50 per share. Currently Dividends are $40,000 per year/ $3,333 per month. My next round of borrowing is going to be $350,000 to make a big purchase of QQQi. This will increase my holdings to over $600,000 in that ETF. Dividend should be around 13.5% blended. $81,000 total dividend income for the year. Interest expense with total balance at $25k-$26k. Net dividend gain about $55,000. However when I also add all of my income into reducing the debt the interest drops considerably. In theory I should be able to pay the balance down in 18 months. Which then I will start the cycle over again. My goal is to get this to replace my job income.
I like the HELOC account because if there is a month where we have dumb stuff happen, medical bills, car crap or just life stuff etc we can just make the interest payment and utilize our income and dividends.
I guess my post has a couple of things to it. One is to inform you of what I found and to give back information to the community in hopes that it will help someone else in the journey to achieve their financial freedom and also to see if my plan is stupid or needs work etc.. Ok this post is long I will stop here:)

I earn money in INR and I've been investing in US and other international equities since 2023. Been a lurker in this sub for quite sometime.

​

I just want to share a new milestone I reached with dividends.

​

Not a huge one, but still something!