Can you live off dividends of 500k?
Yes, investing $500,000 in these seven high-yield dividend stocks could and should make you more than $45,000 in retirement income. However, it's wise to lower the risk of catastrophic losses by spreading your money across a higher number of stocks.
$500K can be enough money to retire on. Even as early as age 50! The trick is to convert the pile of cash into cash flow that can pay the bills. I'm talking about $41,553.73 per year in dividend income on that nest egg, thanks to 8.3% average yields.
How Much Money You Need to Retire on 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.
Here's a quick example: You plan to retire at 65 and hope your retirement savings will see you through 20 years. Distributing $500,000 evenly across these 20 years, you're looking at monthly payments of $2,083 and an annual income of $25,000.
If you retire with $500k in assets, the 4% rule says that you should be able to withdraw $20,000 per year for a 30-year (or longer) retirement. So, if you retire at 60, the money should ideally last through age 90.
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.
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.
And yes, some may even argue that $1 million alone would be enough to sustain a decent retirement (though inflation and rising cost of living would beg to differ). But the benefit of living off of dividends is that you don't have to touch your principal investment to pay the bills.
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.
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.
How to turn $500 000 into a million?
How long will it take to turn 500k into $1 million? The time it takes to invest half turn 500k into $1 million depends on the investment return and the amount of time invested. If invested with an average annual return of 7%, it would take around 15 years to turn 500k into $1 million.
With $400,000, if you buy an annuity at age 62 and then retire, you might expect monthly payments of around $2,400 for the rest of your life. This comes to about $28,800 per year in guaranteed income according to one estimate.
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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.
If you were to place $500,000 in a high-yield savings account with a 2.15% APY and wait one year, you will have earned $10,750 in interest. This rate is likely insufficient to keep up with annual inflation, which means your money will become less valuable at a higher rate than when it's accruing interest.
The interest you can earn on $500,000 depends on where you invest it. If you put it in a high-yield savings account with an interest rate of 4%, you'd earn $20,000 per year.
Their conservatively invested $700,000 portfolio produces an average of 4% in interest income per year. They retired at 62, as soon as they were eligible for Social Security, which provides them with a combined total of $3,000 per month and have no other sources of retirement income.
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.
If you're investing for income you can pick companies that pay relatively high dividends. If you have other income or if you don't mind selling shares (even in bear markets) you can disregard the dividend yield. For a $1m portfolio you can expect any number between $5k and $80k per year.
The rule of thumb is that you can make about 4% annually off of investments without draining the principal. So if you have $600k you can take out $2,000 a month indefinitely. Of course this is an average, and could go up or down depending on the year, so you might want to have a bit of cushion.
Warren Buffett, the venerated investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, is set to amass over $6 billion in dividend income in the coming year, with a significant portion of this windfall emanating from just three stocks.
Do you pay taxes on dividends?
Since the IRS considers dividends to be income, you usually need to pay taxes on them. Even if you reinvest all of your dividends directly back into the same company or fund that paid you the dividends, you will pay taxes as they technically still pass through your hands.
Stock | Market capitalization | Dividend yield |
---|---|---|
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% |
Permian Basin Royalty Trust (PBT) | $660 million | 4.2% |
- Stocks.
- Real Estate.
- Private Credit.
- Junk Bonds.
- Index Funds.
- Buying a Business.
- High-End Art or Other Collectables.
Yes, it is possible to retire with $1 million at the age of 65. But whether that amount is enough for your own retirement will depend on factors that include your Social Security benefits, your investment strategy and your personal expenses.
Bank Savings Accounts
As noted above, the average rate on savings accounts as of February 3rd 2021, is 0.05% APY. A million-dollar deposit with that APY would generate $500 of interest after one year ($1,000,000 X 0.0005 = $500). If left to compound monthly for 10 years, it would generate $5,011.27.
References
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