How many dividend stocks should I own?
There is no hard and fast rule for how many dividend stocks to start a portfolio, but a good starting point is to aim for a minimum of 10. This will give you a good mix of different companies and sectors and help to diversify your risk.
Assuming you do go down the road of picking individual stocks, you'll also want to make sure you hold enough of them so as not to concentrate too much of your wealth in any one company or industry. Usually this means holding somewhere between 20 and 30 stocks unless your portfolio is very small.
Let's say you find an investment with a 5% dividend yield. To calculate how much you need to invest, divide the desired monthly dividend income ($1,000) by the dividend yield (5%). In this case, you would need to invest $20,000 to generate $1,000 in monthly dividends.
| Portfolio Dividend Yield | Dividend Payments With $100K |
|---|---|
| 1% | $1,000 |
| 2% | $2,000 |
| 3% | $3,000 |
| 4% | $4,000 |
The short answer is yes – it's entirely possible to live off dividends in retirement. In fact, more and more people are doing it every day. The key is to start early, invest wisely, and reinvest your dividends so your portfolio can continue to grow.
Three top dividend stocks to consider for your portfolio are Altria Group (NYSE: MO), Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), and Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS). Investing $13,000 in these stocks can be enough to generate $1,000 in dividend income next year.
Visa Inc (NYSE:V)
In addition to Visa, Warren Buffett also enjoys dividends from Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP). In its October 2023 investor letter, Lakehouse Capital stated the following regarding Visa Inc.
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.
Dividend-paying Stocks
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.
But you'll inevitably need money to make a decent amount from dividends. If you can afford to invest $70,000, then you could earn more than $5,000 in dividends over the course of a year by buying three stocks: LTC Properties (LTC -0.03%), AT&T (T -0.48%), and Enbridge (ENB 0.07%).
Do you get taxed on dividends?
Qualified dividends are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% depending on taxable income and filing status. Nonqualified dividends are taxed as income at rates up to 37%. IRS form 1099-DIV helps taxpayers to accurately report dividend income.
Yes, there are a lot of advantages. However, there's also a price to pay for those benefits. The most obvious advantage of dividend investing is that it gives investors extra income to use as they wish. This income can boost returns by being reinvested or withdrawn and used immediately.
- Invest in Real Estate. Rental properties generate income through tenants who pay rent each month to live in a property you own. ...
- CD Laddering. ...
- Dividend Stocks. ...
- Fixed-Income Securities. ...
- Start a Side Hustle.
Investing as little as $20 per month into dividend stocks could grow into $1 million in about 65 years. Invest more money or in higher-returning dividend stocks, and you could become a millionaire even faster. You could then live off the income your dividend stocks pay each year.
You may be able to avoid all income taxes on dividends if your income is low enough to qualify for zero capital gains if you invest in a Roth retirement account or buy dividend stocks in a tax-advantaged education account.
Microsoft only yields 0.7%, but it pays the most dividends of any U.S.-based company. Microsoft's low yield is due to its outperforming stock price, not a lack of commitment to dividend raises. Since fiscal 2019, Microsoft has raised its dividend by 9% to 11% every year like clockwork.
Invest in Dividend Stocks
The average dividend yield for stocks in the S&P 500 index is around 2%. To generate $3,000 per month in dividends at a 2% yield, you would need a portfolio of dividend stocks worth $1.8 million. While this may seem out of reach for many, you can start small and build your portfolio over time.
Stocks in the S&P 500 index currently yield about 1.5% on aggregate. That means, if you have $1 million invested in a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund that tracks the index, you could expect annual dividend income of about $15,000.
- Clearway Energy (NYSE: CWEN)(NYSE: CWEN.A) offers a 7.7% dividend yield. ...
- Oneok's (NYSE: OKE) dividend yields 5.9%. ...
- Vici Properties (NYSE: VICI) pays a 5.7% yielding dividend. ...
- Verizon (NYSE: VZ) pays a 6.7% dividend yield.
Why Doesn't Berkshire Hathaway Pay its Shareholders a Dividend? Company founder and CEO Warren Buffett believes profits can generate better shareholder value spent in other ways.
What is Warren Buffett's favorite stock?
Top Warren Buffett Stocks By Size
Apple (AAPL), 905.6 million. Coca-Cola (KO), 400 million. Kraft Heinz (KHC), 325.6 million. Occidental Petroleum (OXY), 248.1 million.
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.
The truth is that most investors won't have the money to generate $1,000 per month in dividends; not at first, anyway. Even if you find a market-beating series of investments that average 3% annual yield, you would still need $400,000 in up-front capital to hit your targets. And that's okay.
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%.
The company announces when the dividend will be paid, the amount and the ex-dividend date. 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.
