The following is a guest blog post:
Retirement planning is more than just your savings and your social security compensation; you must look at every asset you have and make it work in your favor to produce the most capital and create the most comfortable retirement life possible—especially as you reach your retirement years and options for generating new income are difficult to come by. Dividend income paid from shares of stock can be a major facet of your retirement budget, if approached intelligently.
What is Dividend Investing?
Investing in a stock that pays a dividend is an excellent way to supplement existing retirement income (pension, 401k, social security, reverse mortgage, annuities)—and if you are not in need of a monthly payment (for simply owning a stock) you can reinvest your dividend payment to buy more shares. Clearly, you will not be able to live off dividends alone, but they are a strong (and smart) addition!
How to be a Successful Dividend Investor and Knowing the Benefits
1. Reinvest your dividend income into qualifying stock accounts. This should be straightforward, but there are two types of dividend accounts: qualified and unqualified. When it’s time to pay taxes, you will be thankful you invested in qualified accounts (most are qualified, so it makes it easy). Qualified accounts are taxed at the capital gains tax rate, which is 15%, but depending on your retirement income configuration, you might be in the 10-15% income tax bracket range and be able to pay zero capital gains tax!
2. Understand that dividend yield out paces inflation. This is one of the biggest benefits of channeling investment dollars into qualifying stock accounts, even if the market experiences inflation, you will still be paid while holding your stock and it will offset the hit of inflation. Do not be tempted to sell shares, look at your quarterly dividend cash flow and wait-out the market, if you can.
3. Study companies and track their history for consistent dividend growth or payout history versus cyclical payouts. To put this into perspective, think about major oil companies, these companies go in cycles, and if the market gets too bad, they may have to stop dividend payments. Consider long-standing stable industries that will fluctuate with the market but stay relevant. If you do your research and do not base investments solely on dividend yield, you will be on the right track.
What to Avoid as a Dividend Investor
1. Do not depend on dividend income for monthly bills and expenses, in the event the market crashes, have back-up funds available so you are not forced to pull all dividend investments from the market—as mentioned above, stocks are best kept in the market for as long as possible.
2. Dividends are not a guarantee, be prepared for dividends to halt, this is again a reason retirement planning is about taking note of all the avenues to gain income, not dependence on one facet. Stemming from not guaranteeing dividends, it is wise to diversify your portfolio– if one stock is doing well, another doing not so well will not be a major shock or issue with your finances.
3. There are risks. As an investor in dividends, you are betting on the dividends for income and less-so on the payout. Some companies are forced to pay a certain amount out in dividends and this brings down the overall value of a payout if you sell your share. You have to accept that the market changes and so do high-yield industries, the only way to have a conservative-low risk portfolio is to know how businesses will perform in the future and that is nearly impossible!
Excellent article!
Hi CD,
Glad you enjoyed this post.
Great topic. I wrote a while back why people should consider dividend-paying stocks rather than (or at least in addition to) bonds for the retirement income production goals.
Brad – MaximizeYourMoney.com recently posted…Here’s how much you’ll have if you max out your 401k plan
Do you have a link to check out? Is the added appreciation of the asset among the benefits?
Jordan @ NewRetirement
Although I turned from dividend growth investor & value investor to GARP (Growth At Reasonable Price) about a year ago, I still believe that purchasing solid dividend growers will beat the markets over time.
I may switch back later when I retire and need consistent dividend income to live but for now I think GARP investing fits me better. Thanks for the great post!
BeSmartRich
BeSmartRich recently posted…BeSmartRich’s Portfolio update- May 2017
Hi BSR,
It’s all about ones personal investing preference. I love my dividends and will continue on the DGI path but there’s nothing wrong with going the growth route as well. Thank you for commenting.
Good article i like the point to not depend on dividend income to pay your bills.
Passivecanadianincome recently posted…52.88, 47.36, 41.39, 34.88 – SOLD
Hi Passivecanadianincome,
Well, I think the goal of most in the DGI community is to have all their bills taken care of by dividend income. The key is to make that dividend income as reliable as possible by being diversified adequately so as to not derive most of your icome from just a handful or stocks and to chase only safe and dependable dividend payers. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
All true, I would say the effect of compounding is my biggest thrill and a major benefit. Rolling shares into more shares to pay more dividends makes me smile. This is where dividend investing really shines. Great post, thanks for sharing!
-Brian
Brian recently posted…2017 June Dividends are here, a new record !!
Hi Brian,
No doubt, compounding can demonstrate some amazing results given enough time. The only tough part part about compounding is having the patience to see those results come through. Too often, new dividend investors chase unreasonably high yield in an effort to chase returns sooner. Compounding simply takes time and patience to be remarkable. As always, I appreciate your comment.
Funny the risk if to not pay your bills with it. That is the goal for most people pursuing FIRE. However, I do agree if there is a market downturn, that is the best time to let it compound. You will come out way ahead once the market rebounds.
Dividend Daze recently posted…2017 Goal Update
Hi Dividend Daze,
I agree I think the biggest risk of being completely reliant on these dividend paying stocks for income is the gains being missed out on from the reinvesting. Do you think that changes between preparing for retirement versus being in retirement?
Jordan @ NewRetirement
Dividends are definitely part of my retirement income mix. I like how you mentioned that dividends are by no means guaranteed. As we saw back in 2009, many great companies had to cut the dividend to conserve cash. That said, I do think that owning a decent mix of blue chip dividend stocks in different sectors, does reduce the risk of losing all of your dividend income if the market were to crash.
Gen X Investor | My Road to Wealth and Freedom recently posted…June 2017 Investment Income $1070
Hi MRtWaF,
Dividends are definitely not a guarantee no matter how many years they have been paid in the past. That being said, it’s important for one to diversify their holdings and make sure that the dividend stream is coming in evenly from all the companies held and not be too overly reliant on just a handful of companies for the majority of your dividend income. Thank you for commenting.