Author Topic: How much does everyone earn in dividends yearly in their brokerage accounts?  (Read 7601 times)

dividendsplease

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I need some motivation. Starting in 2017 I'm going to shuffle a little extra cash each month to dividend ETF's and want to watch it snowball when I buy more shares with the dividends. I want to build a little cash register that rings over the next few year...

how much does everyone bring in a year that ends up on their 1040's??

Thanks!

dougules

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We're somewhere in the neighborhood of $8k/year on dividends.  It's definitely nice to see some immediate gratification, but we don't invest specifically for dividends (except for a little play money).  Dividends are pretty tax inefficient for somebody going for FIRE on a 75% savings rate.   

FerrumB5

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If you invest in "traditional" (to MMM) indexes, multiply your invested stash by 1.5-1.7% and you'll get a *rough* idea what DIV will look like. Not all of it will be ordinary, some will be qualified and taxed at cap gains rate

Al1961

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Total is about $28k/yr, of which $16k/yr comes from fixed income securities (bonds and preferred shares).

$6.6k/yr is from securities in my after tax account, the rest is accumlating in tax free or tax deferred accounts.

John Doe

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About 65k per year. About 70% is tax deferred.  I have been DRIPing my accounts for years and it has worked out great. 

Gin1984

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$120
And I am pretty sure that will go down to zero after this year so I can fund my Roth even though my husband is unemployed.

Retire-Canada

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~$12K I don't buy dividend funds/stocks. This just happens to be what my broad market index funds throw off.

marty998

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Couple of thousand. Not a lot but will grow this year

JDsNova

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Can some of you talk about you are invested in and maybe the dollar amount that's getting those good dividend returns?   

John Doe

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I have a portfolio of about $1.4m that generates $65k in income.  I hold about 35 different equities all of which are Canadian.  Bank stocks currently yield around 4%,pipelines 5-6%, various utilities such as BCE (Bell), Telus, Valener, Algonquin etc all have payouts around 4-5%, various REITS (large and small) are anywhere from 5-8% and a variety of others in the 2.5-6% range.  Some are listed on the NYSE also.  Until recently I also held a variety of US stocks also such as ATT, Microsoft, McDonalds, Newell, Texas Instruments, JNJ etc that also had good yields when purchased but I decided to sell my US holdings shortly after the election. I could use a little more diversity but overall remain comfortable in my holdings as they have done well over the years.  When I think a particular holding is nearing its peak I will look to sell it and replace it with something with a higher yield that I believe has a greater chance of capital appreciation. It does not work all of the time but for the most part has been successful. Identifying the ones to sell is relatively easy, finding something to buy is the hard part (currently thinking of trimming my bank holdings  but  I think they have a little more growth in them and of course they always increase their payouts so that has to be taken into consideration also in any sell decision).  Hope that helps.

SpartyStash

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In 2016, I earned 30K in dividends with a 1.3M individual account. 

Background:
- Entered semi-retirement in mid-2015, fairly large severance, individual account was invested for growth only to minimize taxes (fairly high tax bracket with no deductions).
- Funded 2016 through some consulting $$$ and dividend income, started making some small changes to earn more income.
- Approximately 65% of my individual account is in a variety of ETF's (VTI, SCHX, SCHG, QUAL, RPG, VONG, IWF, IWV, VIG).
- The remainder of the account is in a bunch of individual stocks (~12 stocks such as CVX, PFE, LB, PEP, TWX, TMO, AAPL, NTAP, etc) & mutual funds (TWEIX, PRBLX, FDVLX, JAMRX, SPHIX).

In early 2017 I'm planning on selling RPG and a couple mutual funds, to fund the purchase of some income producing assets (~130K spread between a high yield bond ETF, a couple closed end funds, an REIT, an infrastructure/pipeline fund).  My hope is that I'll be able to bump up my dividend income a bit (~35K).  My plan is to live on a combination of dividend income + ~2-3% withdrawal of my account balance (by selling small amounts of assets like TMO, SCHG, IWF, AAPL, PRBLX, COST, etc., on a yearly basis).     


LittleAussieBattler

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I'm in Australia so dividends are typically a little hire yield - 4-5%.

This year my spouse and I made 12.5k in dividends after tax.

In Aus we can earn a total of 36k a year combined without paying any tax. As we are working overseas currently this has allowed us to keep all the dividend this tax year only.


dougules

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Can some of you talk about you are invested in and maybe the dollar amount that's getting those good dividend returns?

I'm mostly just in VTSAX and VTIAX.  If you go after dividends specifically you're reducing your diversification.  Earnings are earnings whether they're distributed or retained. 

itchyfeet

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I'm in Australia so dividends are typically a little hire yield - 4-5%.

This year my spouse and I made 12.5k in dividends after tax.

In Aus we can earn a total of 36k a year combined without paying any tax. As we are working overseas currently this has allowed us to keep all the dividend this tax year only.

If you are not a tax resident in Australia, then you are not entitled to the tax free threshold.

If you are a tax resident in Australia then your income from overseas needs to be included on your tax return, as do any foreign tax credits.


bigchrisb

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I'm in Australia so dividends are typically a little hire yield - 4-5%.

This year my spouse and I made 12.5k in dividends after tax.

In Aus we can earn a total of 36k a year combined without paying any tax. As we are working overseas currently this has allowed us to keep all the dividend this tax year only.

If you are not a tax resident in Australia, then you are not entitled to the tax free threshold.

If you are a tax resident in Australia then your income from overseas needs to be included on your tax return, as do any foreign tax credits.

Are you able to shed any light on what you are doing Battler?  I'm going to be overseas for the next three years, and will have dividend income.  My take was that I would still be lodging an AU tax return, and the tax treatment would be as per usual.  If I earn anything in my country of destinations, I would get taxed on the earned income in that country.  On my AU return I would need to report this income, the foreign tax paid as a tax credit, and pay any additional AU tax due.  Happy to break this out into a different thread if its getting too off topic.

itchyfeet

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Australian tax residency is a minefield that probably warrants its own thread. If you are going OS for 3 years you might be able to claim that you ceased being an Australian tax resident, if that was beneficial to you.

If you remain an Australian tax resident whilst OS then you will pay tax in Australia  on worldwide income, less foreign tax credits as you point out. This is probably want you don't want to happen if you will be working in a low tax place like the Middle East, Hong Kong or Singapore. Less of a concern if you will be in say Europe.

If you cease being an Australian tax resident you will not pay tax in Australia on foreign sourced income, just On your Australian dividend and rental income, but at the top marginal tax rate, with no tax free threshold.

If you cease being an Australian tax resident you also have to be extremely careful re: CGT events. The law here is a little complex, so warrants professional advice.

There is a quiz on the ATO website to provide guidance as to whether you remain an Australian tax resident. This is a good starting point. There are many factors considered.

mathjak107

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we range from 29k to 69k in fund distributions a year .

being retired and living off our portfolio , we reinvest the dividends while setting up a bucket for the year with our withdrawals ready to go every jan 1  . we ladder cd's and have them come do each month

it is much easier to have a constant flow of a safe ,secure ,consistent income stream then to try to fill gaps on the fly  from shortfalls when they happen . letting the dividends grow over time is a side benefit .
« Last Edit: January 04, 2017, 02:51:51 AM by mathjak107 »

nugget

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This year I earned my first ~CHF 100 in Dividends out of a CHF 5k ETF. Damn that feels good!

Retire-Canada

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This year I earned my first ~CHF 100 in Dividends out of a CHF 5k ETF. Damn that feels good!

Congrats. :)

spud1987

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We receive about 5k in our brokerage account. I invest in muni bonds in our brokerage account so only 2k or so is taxable.

We also receive another 7k in tax deferred accounts.

With our rental throwing off 9k/year we are at about 21k in passive income.

This is all on investable assets (including the rental) of about 750k.

LittleAussieBattler

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Itchyfeet - This is for this tax year only. We are non residents for tax purposes (FY16/17). We are not currently paying tax on the dividends due to claims against interest for investment loans.

You are correct about the minefield of going overseas with Australian tax.

Here are some things we sought extensive advice on:

- Cancelling of medicare card / electoral roll has a bearing on whether tax office deems you as resident or not.
- Owning your PPOR and failing to rent it out has a bearing on the decision.
- How many times you return each year to Australia.
- Any asset you hold is declared as a CGT base on leaving. If you return you are liable to pay CGT on the difference of that asset from when you left.



l2jperry

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8,300 this year for me with mainly a mix of VTI, VXUS, BND, BNDX, and SCHH. There are a couple other odd ball ones here and there, but any new money goes into one of those 5 funds.

itchyfeet

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- Cancelling of medicare card / electoral roll has a bearing on whether tax office deems you as resident or not.
- Owning your PPOR and failing to rent it out has a bearing on the decision.
- How many times you return each year to Australia.
- Any asset you hold is declared as a CGT base on leaving. If you return you are liable to pay CGT on the difference of that asset from when you left.

Cancelled Medicare - tick
Off electoral role - not sure but we did advise electoral office we were leaving and didn't vote last election
- PPOR rented out - tick
- been back home 3 times in 2 years - tick (and ticked visitor on arrivals card)

Just coming up to our 2 year expativersary. I hope we are just about finally free of the long arms of the ATO. Lol :)

farmecologist

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We generated about 40K in dividends last year.  Almost all via tax deferred accounts invested in Vanguard Wellesley Admiral ( VWIAX ).  These are our 'core' accounts.  Frankly, I like seeing the dividends come in every quarter.  Dividend-producing investments work very well as a tax deferred investment.  I will say that VWIAX took a bit of a hit last year because of rising interest rates.  However, the yield is starting to rise now so it's all good.

To offset that, we also have a few smaller taxable accounts fully invested in stocks, etc..

I also dabble in risky stock investments (biotechs bottom-feeding, etc..) with some 'play money' off to the side...This has been quite successful.  However, it is not for everyone...you have to have the stomach for it and watch everything like a hawk.  I do enjoy it though. 



bamfsaver

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Just started my FIRE journey (am 26) so my dividends earned in 2016 were a paltry $1,610 in total. I live in Singapore so  we have a zero capital gains and dividends tax regime, many companies locally tend to pay high dividends and shun buybacks.

Invested in a couple of REITs, banks, industrials, index funds, and am currently selling put options on compounders and blue chips in the US thru my IBKR account.

khangaroo

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401(k) with a balance of $58k = $1,368

Roth IRA with a balance of $47.6k = $1,354

Both accounts have them reinvested back into funds so hopefully they're going to be HUGE like some of the people who posted earlier. That one guy who had $65k!! Wow that's incredible.

TheAnonOne

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I have 250k abouts in VTSAX

VTSAX is giving about 2%

I get about 5k per year.


What I love seeing is that every quarter that number goes up because I am investing.

Q1 2016 = 750
Q2 2016 = 950
Q3 2016 = 1150
Q4 2016 = 1250

*Rounded numbers obviously

At this rate my dividends will be huge in 6 to 9 years! (When i fire)

pumpkinlantern

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I have a portfolio of about $1.4m that generates $65k in income.  I hold about 35 different equities all of which are Canadian.  Bank stocks currently yield around 4%,pipelines 5-6%, various utilities such as BCE (Bell), Telus, Valener, Algonquin etc all have payouts around 4-5%, various REITS (large and small) are anywhere from 5-8% and a variety of others in the 2.5-6% range.  Some are listed on the NYSE also.  Until recently I also held a variety of US stocks also such as ATT, Microsoft, McDonalds, Newell, Texas Instruments, JNJ etc that also had good yields when purchased but I decided to sell my US holdings shortly after the election. I could use a little more diversity but overall remain comfortable in my holdings as they have done well over the years.  When I think a particular holding is nearing its peak I will look to sell it and replace it with something with a higher yield that I believe has a greater chance of capital appreciation. It does not work all of the time but for the most part has been successful. Identifying the ones to sell is relatively easy, finding something to buy is the hard part (currently thinking of trimming my bank holdings  but  I think they have a little more growth in them and of course they always increase their payouts so that has to be taken into consideration also in any sell decision).  Hope that helps.

Also, a Canadian here.  Just starting out and hope to be where you are someday!  Just wondering how factor in taxes when you sell.  thanks!

John Doe

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I have a portfolio of about $1.4m that generates $65k in income.  I hold about 35 different equities all of which are Canadian.  Bank stocks currently yield around 4%,pipelines 5-6%, various utilities such as BCE (Bell), Telus, Valener, Algonquin etc all have payouts around 4-5%, various REITS (large and small) are anywhere from 5-8% and a variety of others in the 2.5-6% range.  Some are listed on the NYSE also.  Until recently I also held a variety of US stocks also such as ATT, Microsoft, McDonalds, Newell, Texas Instruments, JNJ etc that also had good yields when purchased but I decided to sell my US holdings shortly after the election. I could use a little more diversity but overall remain comfortable in my holdings as they have done well over the years.  When I think a particular holding is nearing its peak I will look to sell it and replace it with something with a higher yield that I believe has a greater chance of capital appreciation. It does not work all of the time but for the most part has been successful. Identifying the ones to sell is relatively easy, finding something to buy is the hard part (currently thinking of trimming my bank holdings  but  I think they have a little more growth in them and of course they always increase their payouts so that has to be taken into consideration also in any sell decision).  Hope that helps.

Also, a Canadian here.  Just starting out and hope to be where you are someday!  Just wondering how factor in taxes when you sell.  thanks!

Of the $1.4m only about 250k is in a non-registered account. As I am still working (going to part time -so semi-fire I guess as of April 1) and in a high tax bracket I rarely sell in that account. I will be more open to selling once my employment stops fully in a year or two. The stocks I hold in that account are well establshed blue chip Canadian companies so I am ok holding those for the long run - BCE, Royal, Sun Life, Telus, a couple of pipelines etc. That being said, for the most part I dont think it is a good idea to let tax drive an investment decsion - the tax has to be paid at some point.

financiallypossible

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I was at ~ 30k last year. It's in a mix of US stock index funds, individual US stocks, international stock index funds, municipal bond funds, investment-grade intermediate term corporate bond funds, a US TIPS bond fund, and small amounts in US REIT funds and hi yield bond funds.

I expect it to jump to 32-35k this year, because I put some additional to cash to work in several months of 2016. Perhaps it will go even higher depending upon how much progress my wife and I make on adding real estate investments to our portfolio.