How much do you need to invest to get $100 a month in dividends?
If you want to bring home an average of $100 per month ($1,200/year) in super safe dividend income, simply invest $13,800 (split equally, three ways) into the following ultra-high-yield stocks, which sport an average yield of 8.71%!
If you want to generate $100 in super safe monthly dividend income in the new year, simply invest $11,925 (split equally, three ways) into the following three high-yield stocks, which are averaging a 10.07% yield!
In a market that generates a 2% annual yield, you would need to invest $600,000 up front in order to reliably generate $12,000 per year (or $1,000 per month) in dividend payments. How Can You Make $1,000 Per Month In Dividends? Here are the steps you can take to build yourself a sufficient dividend portfolio.
Portfolio Dividend Yield | Dividend Payments With $100K |
---|---|
7% | $7,000 |
8% | $8,000 |
9% | $9,000 |
10% | $10,000 |
To generate $5,000 per month in dividends, you would need a portfolio value of approximately $1 million invested in stocks with an average dividend yield of 5%. For example, Johnson & Johnson stock currently yields 2.7% annually. $1 million invested would generate about $27,000 per year or $2,250 per month.
However, the investment amount required to produce the desired income is considerable. To make $2,000 in dividend income, the investment amount and rate of return must be $400,000 and 6%, respectively. If the rate is lower, say 4%, the upfront investment is $600,000.
Shares of public companies that split profits with shareholders by paying cash dividends yield between 2% and 6% a year. With that in mind, putting $250,000 into low-yielding dividend stocks or $83,333 into high-yielding shares will get your $500 a month.
There are a couple of reasons that make dividend-paying stocks particularly useful. First, the income they provide can help investors meet liquidity needs. And second, dividend-focused investing has historically demonstrated the ability to help to lower volatility and buffer losses during market drawdowns.
Dividends can be classified either as ordinary or qualified. Whereas ordinary dividends are taxable as ordinary income, qualified dividends that meet certain requirements are taxed at lower capital gain rates.
- Exxon Mobil XOM.
- Verizon Communications VZ.
- Philip Morris International PM.
- PepsiCo PEP.
- Altria Group MO.
- Bristol-Myers Squibb BMY.
- Medtronic MDT.
- Gilead Sciences GILD.
Can I live off dividends?
It is possible to achieve financial freedom by living off dividends forever. That isn't to say it's easy, but it's possible. Those starting from nothing admittedly have a hard road to retirement-enabling passive income.
Once you have $1 million in assets, you can look seriously at living entirely off the returns of a portfolio. After all, the S&P 500 alone averages 10% returns per year. Setting aside taxes and down-year investment portfolio management, a $1 million index fund could provide $100,000 annually.
A well-constructed dividend portfolio could potentially yield anywhere from 2% to 8% per year. This means, to earn $3,000 monthly from dividend stocks, the required initial investment could range from $450,000 to $1.8 million, depending on the yield. Furthermore, potential capital gains can add to your total returns.
Too many people are paid a lot of money to tell investors that yields like that are impossible. But the truth is you can get a 9.5% yield today--and even more. But even at 9.5%, we're talking about a middle-class income of $4,000 per month on an investment of just a touch over $500K.
For example, if the average yield is 3%, that's what we'll use for our calculations. Keep in mind, yields vary based on the investment. Calculate the Investment Needed: To earn $1,000 per month, or $12,000 per year, at a 3% yield, you'd need to invest a total of about $400,000. Calculation: $12,000 / 0.03 = $400,000.
If, for example, your portfolio gets to a value of $1.5 million, you could invest in a fund or multiple investments that yield an average of 3.3%. At that rate, you could generate $50,000 in annual dividends. With a lower portfolio balance of $1 million, you would need to target an average yield of 5%.
Bottom Line. If you can invest $200 each and every month and achieve a 10% annual return, in 20 years you'll have more than $150,000 and, after another 20 years, more than $1.2 million. Your actual rate of return may vary, and you'll also be affected by taxes, fees and other influences.
- Try out affiliate marketing.
- Sell an online course.
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- Become an influencer.
- Write and sell e-books.
- Freelance on websites like Upwork.
- Start an e-commerce store.
- Get paid to complete surveys.
To have a perfect portfolio to generate $1000/month in dividends, one should have at least 30 stocks in at least 10 different sectors. No stock should not be more than 3.33% of your portfolio. If each stock generates around $400 in dividend income per year, 30 of each will generate $12,000 a year or $1000/month.
Stock | Market capitalization | Dividend yield |
---|---|---|
Gladstone Capital Corp. (ticker: GLAD) | $483 million | 8.6% |
Cross Timbers Royalty Trust (CRT) | $104 million | 11.1% |
Dynex Capital Inc. (DX) | $726 million | 12.2% |
Horizon Technology Finance Corp. (HRZN) | $454 million | 9.7% |
How do you live off monthly dividends?
As a rough rule of thumb, you can multiply the annual dividend income you wish to generate by 22 and by 28 to establish a reasonable range for how much you need to invest to live off dividends.
The concept is simple — you invest in stocks that pay out dividends, usually on a quarterly basis. For example, if you invest $100,000 into stocks with an average dividend yield of 3%, you'll earn $3,000 per year or $250 per month in dividend payments.
One downside to investing in stocks for the dividend is an eventual cap on returns. The dividend stock may pay out a sizable rate of return, but even the highest yielding stocks with any sort of stability don't pay out more than ~10% annually in today's low interest rate environment, except in rare circ*mstances.
Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI), Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX), and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) are three super-safe dividend stocks because they generate contractually secured cash flow and have strong financial profiles. That makes them great options for those seeking to fortify their dividend income in 2024 and beyond.
Investors must have bought the stock at least two days before the official date of a dividend payment (the "date of record") in order to receive that payment. The company pays out the dividend to shareholders.
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