DRIP

mdatwood

I did the same around the same time frame. It's literally free money to let my money I don't touch sit in a different broker. I bought an index fund, turned in DRIP, and haven't really looked at it since.

Own-Recipe5908

I go indirect with DRIP and GUSH which end up moving with oil anyway. Used to be the easiest trade in the world, I would buy some gush and drip in the middle of oil's normal price range, safe because oil companies/opec don't want it too cheap so they lose profit or too expensive and get people to move off it. Oil goes up? Sell some GUSH buy more drip. Vice versa down. Free income that doesn't go tits up. Nowadays I have a massive pile of drip losing value and slightly more GUSH I'm buy/selling for decent profit. Long term the drip will go up but the decay is killer and I'm not buying more till Iran shit actually cools down, and I'm not selling out of GUSH till a major squeeze to highs from SPR fuckery.

Killah_Kyla

I put $700 into NVDA in 2021. Put it on DRIP and let it ride... sitting pretty now, been selling off here and there to rebalance my portfolio a bit but honestly I should probably just continue to let it ride 😜

MattieShoes

I did a quick and dirty check. $50/week into KO, DRIP, with $6k in profit by today would require you to start around August 2021. So you'd have dropped about $13,050 into KO and you'd own about 219 shares worth just over $19,000.

wzeldas

You could literally put this into DRIP and retire 💀

MitchCurry

Haven't bought actively bought since July 23 unless you count my ASML DRIP (I don't count my 401k as a buy).

Educational_Ant_184

I dont blame you for thinking that, I think everyone will be increasingly fucked as time goes on. That being said, you have just about the largest time horizon of anyone investing. At your age, you can experience a "lost decade" or two and still make money before you retire on even the worst timing of specific buy-ins. Primarily you should be in investing in broad market ETFs, and those will be safe on your investing horizon. The fun gambles are better played somewhere else than your retirement accounts. Here is where I will be controversial. I dont recommend it now for the reasons you're saying, but if there is a large crash, I'd probably some time after go into a leveraged market ETF, in my case TQQQ, which is 3x, but ive read 2x is kind of the golden ratio, so maybe cut it with some non leverage to hit that exposure. Also, dividends are controversial. I invest in RITM, a REIT, which returns 10% per year, and DRIP the proceeds(two acronyms you should become familiar with, i.e. google them and there you go, simple but possibly important). I was losing money and afraid to invest in like 2022, but that dividend and reinvestment would have been nice to have at that time. Most people will say dividends are a waste and thats better pivoted to towards retirement, but I think its a nice hedge and something that can be nicely accrued slowly over time

HeckleHelix

Last year I paid homeowners insurance my premium was $4k for the year. At the end of the year, my $4k was gone & I had nothing to show for it. For the amount of time I've owned my home, had I placed that premium into $VOO, set to DRIP & left it alone, my account would now be worth more than my house. Instead, the insurance company took my money every year, invested it, & they made the money. Better to just invest those premiums into your own account & insure yourself through quality ETFs & stocks.

Home-String-3246

I think your calculating a lump sum investment since 2012 and not accounting for DCA with DRIP

advan24r

My question was more to see if I’m too heavily concentrated in nvda and if I should just sell some and move it towards my passive dividend income funds in which I’ve already achieved about $14k/year. With its continuing DRIP and compounding, I should have close to $30k/year in passive dividend income but if I sell some nvda and increase my current passive income portfolio, I can possibly achieve up to $50k/year in passive income by retirement. Also I have enough capital losses to offset the capital gains if I sold some nvda.

advan24r

Just want to diversify a bit and lessen my risk a bit once that bear market hits. I have about 13-15 years until retirement and figure why not start early DRIP and compounding earlier.

advan24r

AI can only go up just as much, like the comments below, look at CSCO. Dividend funds if you let it DRIP and never take the money out, will probably outperform.

dbarreda

i guess for now stop DRIP for the time being...

GaylrdFocker

Call schwab and ask. Either you chose to no longer DRIP or they did that for you mistakenly.

Over-Celebration-168

DRIP people are underrated bulls of stock market🫡🫡

SnooConfections5135

Stash this all in JEPQ or JEPI and reap a nice little 10% a year dividend return. DRIP everything you don’t need for taxes and by the time it’s time for retirement you my friend are pulling a nice little salary just by sitting on your ass

Sandisunshine96

This is the way most people actually make it work long term and nobody wants to hear it. Long core + boring div stocks in the Roth with DRIP, and a small tactical swing port where you can actually hedge. The ATM scalp thing is exactly what saved a lot of people in April 2025 - 10% hedge saved 90% port. Question on the execution - when you say scalp same day, are you buying morning vol spike and selling into afternoon decay or are you holding through 0DTE? I've been doing similar but with QQQ spreads instead of naked ATM because the theta burn was killing me on those choppy days in March. And congrats on going full time at 30. That's the dream!!

Father_of_Lies666

I buy dips and hold long term assets, then when things are winding down I’ll scalp ATM puts to the downside that are 1-2 weeks out and exit same day each time to at least reclaim the cost basis. Cashes me up for the next dip. Every once in a while you get a huge drop like April 2025 and even 10% of a swing port in those puts will buoy the rest of the port while everything around you dies. Then… when buyers start showing up, exit and buy the dip! Between doing this in April of 2025 and March of this year, I was able to start trading and investing full time at 30. For the Roth, I’m in the most safe and boring shit that pays good dividends with DRIP turned on.

MarthaJulietta

I'm in at the same price. I think its OK. Will avg down with a DRIP

Own-Recipe5908

GUSH welcomes all. DRIP is also good.

ialwaysdisagreewithu

You do that gradually... DCA on a bunch of Vanguard ETFs every time you make some profit and watch it DRIP.

Bitter-Refuse-8623

It looked like you sent someone a message about your entry price and time which was in the moment, of when to buy a call? I just want to grow my account and financial freedom a little faster than just DCA and DRIP is allowing. I already said what I have I'm willing to play with , which is about 50% of current portfolio or about $1200

Various_Couple_764

most dividend pare payed out today to Brokerage accounts Not banks. So the dividned will show up as cash in a brokerage account and then you can transfer that to your bank. So open a new brokerage account in your country transfer the shares to the new brokerage account and the checks should stop common in. The close your OLD brokerage that you were using. Now all you hav to do is transfer the moeny electronically to your bank. And most companies today don't offer DRIP plans. . Companes offered drip plass when there were no computers or electric funds transfers. Today most companies have ended there DRIP programs.

Various_Couple_764

No you don't understand. most dividend pare pays out electronically to Brokerage accounts Not banks. So the dividned will show up as cash and then you can transfer that to your bank. So if your shares are move to a brokerage the checks should stop coming in and the dividneds will show up as cash in the brokerage. Now also look for a brokerage that doesn't charge fees They do exist although I don't know what's available in your courtyard. And most companies today don't offer DRIP plans. Instead today you can set your brokerage account to autmaitcllay reinvest the dividend right after they have been received. Companes offered drip plass when there were no computers or electric funds transfers. Today most companies hand eded there DRIO programs.

Starthreads

Sticking it in a bank stock is a solid way to develop an income out of what is here. As an example: BMO at 177.77 is 7247 whole shares, where the dividend is $1.71 every three months, or about $12400 (equivalent of $4130 per month). Using DRIP on what you don't use has the value expand over time. Alternatively, you could still work and use the money that comes from it as your market play money to attempt doing this again.

Rocketsloth

Your chances of a prolonged downturn are very low if you invest in broad market ETF's, which have experienced temporary downward shocks, but even in the worst cases, they have recovered within 4-5 years. If your timeline is 20 years or more, and you keep waiting, you're at a higher risk of missing out in a rapid 15 to 20% gain over 12 to 24 months, which you may not see again. Also you'd be missing dividends and the compounding effect of DRIP.

RunsaberSR

I waited diligently saving divvy $ with DRIP turned off and grabbed SOXL @ the (knock on wood) bottom instead of burning it on theta burn bullshit. REWARD ME.

Own-Recipe5908

I mean, if you buy DRIP you'd get your money back within a year worse case, but puts? Ehhhhhhhhh...........

shawman123

This is the question I am hearing for most of my ownership for past 9 years. At times I have pruned my ownership as with splits and DRIP, i have way more than what I had bought. That said all decisions to sell have been mistakes(one was through Covered Call which is risky business anyway). Still until the brand moat is there, I will keep the rest. I have already sold way more than what i bought for.

terminalguy007

For a new S&P 500 investor the most important thing to understand is that you are buying fractional ownership in 500 of the largest US businesses simultaneously. The index is market-cap weighted, meaning your dollars concentrate into the companies the market has bid up most—tech and communication services are currently around 40% of the weight. That is not bad, it is just worth knowing what you actually own. On the lump-sum vs waiting question: Vanguard studied this extensively and found lump-sum investing outperforms dollar-cost averaging about two-thirds of the time because markets go up more often than they go down. That said, if you would panic-sell during a 30% drawdown, DCA is worth the statistical cost—behavioral consistency beats optimal math if you cannot hold through volatility. Know which investor you are before you deploy. Dividends are a company's cash distribution to shareholders from earnings. S&P 500 index funds pay them quarterly, and you can choose to reinvest automatically (DRIP) or take them as cash. The index currently yields around 1.3–1.5%, which is modest—the real engine for an S&P 500 investor is long-term price appreciation, not yield. Think of dividends as a side benefit, not the core thesis.

DAPumphrey

Correct. None of my REITs have lost me money after dividends. To the contrary, I make $11K/mo. I don't DRIP. I turn that money into other venues or lower my cost basis when it makes sense. (stocks or metals) I retired at 58 now 63, and my portfolio has risen over $500,000 in this time. My experience is they do lose value around xDate's, but seem to claw back up most of the time. I have 60% of my portfolio in Divi stocks and ETF's.

Spectre186

Not sure if anyone has posted specifically about this. How much income are you expecting? On the safe side, you’re only going to get 3 - 5% dividends and hopefully some underlying stock price increase as well. That’s $400/ month. Plus if you aren’t reinvesting the dividend, that’s all it’ll ever be. I highly recommend you DRIP! However, you mentioned you need extra income to stay afloat, so not sure if that’ll work. You also need to see what the dividend payout schedule is for whatever you invest in. Is there any reason you left work? Sounds like you need to keep working if you’re able to. Dividend stocks definitely aren’t magic, and the high % ones can carry significant risk.

AtomicNick47

You'll get a lot of flack from traditional investors about dividends on here. I'm here to be the other side of the coin. Dividends "eroding the pot" has to be the worst argument for not buying Income producing assets I've ever heard. Is a company less valuable because it pays its employees? No, that'd be stupid to argue, without employees the company wouldn't have any value. Value is speculative and so as long as investors continue to see value in the dividend structure and the performance of the stock it will perform. Dividend Irrelevance theory operates on the assumption that it "hampers growth" but this is just simply not the case otherwise companies that are known to increase their dividends annually would perform especially poorly. Proctor and gamble have been doing just fine for 69 years as has AWR. Coca Cola would also like a word with all these clowns. But they don't and "dividend Kings" ETF's are a real thing and that's just on the conservative risk side. The argument really only works if you put a finite timeline on the growth of a company and don't believe that company can maintain its value over time. piss poor logic. you take a penny from the pile but month over month, year over year their are more pennies for you to take, and as long as its a good company or etf there's no reason that those pennies won't continue to be there. and you can use those pennies that you take to purchase more of the pot, or put it towards other assets. It's a no brainer. Anyways my Dividend portfolio is up over 120% in 4.5 years and that's with the adjustments from the DRIP. and I'm making 1000 a month with 50K in in that portfolio. I only ever made 18K in initial deposits and have 0 growth picks, so don't listen to growth purists.

arcanition

Dividends are not magic money. Dividends are essentially a "forced sale" of a stock. If you bought a stock at $50/share, and it grows to $100/share, then issues a 5% dividend ($5/share)... the price is now $95/share and you have $5/share. This is financially equivalent to a different stock that didn't issue a dividend at all, grew from $50/share to $100/share, and you chose to sell 5% of your holdings ($5/share). You would again end up with 95% of the holding as stock, and 5% as cash. Dividends are not magic money, they are essentially the company forcing you to sell X% of your holdings. Similarly, if you choose to use a DRIP (dividend reinvestment program) that reinvests those dividends back into the same stock, that is the financial equivalent of you refusing that dividend (technically you are receiving the dividend and then re-buying at the current price).

NecessaryOk6148

There’s always a bull market - DRIP

NecessaryOk6148

Everyone get in DRIP It’s going up

Fun-Sundae4060

DRIP purchases are indeed exempt, IF you had it enabled already prior to blackout. But in this case you’re changing the default action of the account to start buying shares in the middle of blackout. Likewise, if you had DRIP and turned it off during blackout, you will also be flagged. It’s just the action of changing your DRIP setting that is questionable, not the DRIP itself.

Fun-Sundae4060

It’s the act of CHANGING DRIP to on/off that is considered violation of blackout. If you had DRIP on already, that’s fine, if you had DRIP off, that’s also fine. But turning it on during blackout or turning it off is flagged.

ChornWork2

would check if can find a policy doc or FAQ for the your ESPP and see what it says about DRIP. you made the investment decision (DRIP on) during a blackout period, so I'd be surprised if it is an issue... you're committed to that regardless of what you learn subsequently. Which is also why presumably you can't turn DRIP off now.

ChornWork2

but changing decision on automatic purchase seems like a manual decision. outside of blackout period, shouldn't be able to turn DRIP on, so would think likewise you shouldn't be able to turn it off.

ShadowLiberal

The way I understand it, changes to your DRIP settings can take a few days to take effect. So depending on the timing, even if OP turns it off they might still automatically buy more shares in the next few days.

LonesomeBulldog

You’re fine. DRIP doesn’t fall under insider trading rules since it’s passive investing.

BlindTreeFrog

> That is why mutual funds were so common for retail investors. Although a lot of the mutual funds did have front end loads, sometimes as high as 8.5% with ongoing expense ratios around 1%. Also, I believe DRIP accounts were generally fee free, but you had to find a brokerage which allowed them.

NiceOwner

I sleep better DCA index’s. And having DRIP on.

LordSnarfington

This is almost exactly my conflict but I am a hyper fixation person but this one has lasted almost a decade now which is far longer than my others. I do think it's basically just paying to stop me from doing something dumb which is a drag I'm willing to take, basically paying for my entertainment. In a perfect situation I see it playing out like; big crash, port is halved or severely down and I even take a big loss on SGOV, as long as I've been investing it's been this decade long bull market so I'm thinking I may not like or even know how to trade in a lengthy bear market. Ideally, I take all I have left and buy the dip massively, keep the auto deposits going while the market recovers and I fixate on a new hobby. This way I catch the beginning of the recovery, historically the best returns, and come back to actively trade on the way back up who knows. One point; I put as much money into my 401k as I can and have a Roth IRA I do DRIP in so this is fun money I can afford to lose.....but would honestly be devastated to see my work gone but I don't actually need the money

wuumasta19

Yep. Robinhood overall is just simple to use, expanding products and app improvements. Doing so much right to keep and grow the business. If Robinhood would just participate in DRIP at NAV for the few stocks offering it, I would only use them.

KMPItXHnKKItZ

A dividend is cash in your hand without having to sell shares and in a dividend growth stock like SCHD, it grows your investment even more without you having to buy more shares with your own cash every time. Growth funds like VOO pay dividends too. When bill time comes and you need cash to pay the bill, would you sell a growth fund to pay for it? Or would you rather turn DRIP off once and pay it with your dividend while your shares remain intact? I know which I would rather do. I do not think that 100% growth investors understand that in times when the market is down, and when you are not yet ready to sell otherwise, it is very attractive to have high dividends that you can use to pay for things or get cash flow while keeping your shares intact instead of having to sell your growth while the market is down. I assume that you are aware that the most solid companies keep paying dividends out even in bear markets because the whole point of dividends from a company's point of view is to keep investor confidence in the company and to attract investors even in bad times. And if you are one of those people that believes in the 4% withdrawal rule for growth funds, know that the guy that came up with that nonsense abandoned his own advice and left the market in 2022 when it went bear. I invest a lot of money in both growth and dividends, so I understand both perspectives and having both compliments each other, but of course not everyone can afford to invest meaningful amounts in more than one strategy, so for most working class people 100% growth is the best.

neverfakemaplesyrup

I am low income and just met my HYSA goals Do i A. Max out my roth IRA B. Balance between IRA and a DRIP on an individual so i can contijue to save towards goals while retaining liquidity C. Put it all on WEN

stickman07738

I have been investing in HON via their DRIP program since the late 90's and is my largest individual holding. I was hoping for some Quantinuum share but will be happy with the upside on HON balance sheet.

sentientshadeofgreen

Cheap margin and good UI. I only use Robinhood for the maybe 5% of my portfolio I use for higher risk YOLO trades. Another 30% or so is in M1 for my medium-term non-retirement investments, has a self-funding income sleeve for the dynamic DRIP rebalance over time. My long-term investments are locked away in Vanguard and TSP.

GloveBrilliant1190

Don't DRIP

jeche25

I’m treating it like a DRIP. Google (YouTube) pays me money, and I’ll invest it back to Google.

ThicccBoiSlim

You've just shown us all you have absolutely 0 idea what you're talking about lol. DRIP has not even the faintest thing to do with selling covered calls.

OhtaniStanMan

Dividend stocks are DRIP and not share price bucko

DoctorNezuko

This means you can log off and check in 30 years. Hedging against yourself allows you to be certain that you will have funds in the future when you need it, but your full portfolio will be slow to grow. Are you doing DRIP at the moment? Rotate your dividends into which ever side is underperforming at any given time. Just make sure you put it on your calender to do it at least once a month as needed.

CrayComputerTech_85

I had DRIP in GE for almost 20 years. The spin-off in part just made my retirement lock in last fall. $MSFT was $20 something during the 2008 financial crisis. I didnt start DRIP on that until it broke $120. Long terms goals are long term goals. I'm buying more MSFU during this slide too.

Ok-Lobster-919

Stocks aren't fun. You don't want to encourage the kid to check the market. Buy $100 of any stock that will survive the next 50 years, set up DRIP on it and forget about it entirely.

Ok_Worldliness2805

I might be higher than that now with the DRIP, haha its been a little while since I calculated it. Either way, what a home run for us both. Just a value play at this point!

OhtaniStanMan

You don't buy a 5% dividend stock for long term g ains. You buy it for DRIP. 

zooka19

Consolidating my old pension pots into a Trading212 SIPP, I'm more active on my investing, but thinking to just do all world, or split SP500 with International and turn on DRIP. This won't be getting any new cash, unless I have a new job with a different pension provider, then I'll consolidate again.

MaximumCarnage88

Ultimately you pay the tax. Deferred or not the tax man doesn't forget. The defer makes your DRIP more effective, for a time. But if you plan on DRIP you may as well just hold the underlying for better total return, and less risk. Risk of missing vertical rocket ships from your CCs. Income is sugar high. Tax free income is fentanyl. Qqqi lures you in. Looks good on paper but you will fall behind QQQM year after year. And pay more ER for the privilege.

Agitated-Ad-504

Dividends with DRIP and consistent contributions. 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

No-Engineer-6357

I rotate everything as needed except my set and forget ETF. I watch and listen to the market. If something I have reaches $100 over my point of entry, I'll buy something else with that profit that has acted and looks solid for the future in whatever sector it's in. I don't do do crypto, gold, etc.... or anything else currency related or overtly American. I keep my eyes and ears overseas and keep everything on a DRIP. What I don't do is touch my ETF unless I'm adding to it. I've only been doing this for about a year and I haven't lost money.

samuelpile

Avoid dividends. They are materially identical to the sale of stock. At your age, you should focus on long-term growth for retirement. Once early retirement becomes an option, you can consider an income-driven/dividend investing plan. Prioritizing dividend reinvesting, or DRIP, is silly IMO. In a taxable account, a dividend payout is a forced taxable event, which creates a tax drag on growth. In a tax-advantaged account, if are reinvesting something like SCHD seeking greater total return you could just.... pick an ETF with greater total return. Dividend proponents (especially SCHD'ers) will say that it is less volatility, it has less of at tech tilt, that dividend aristocrats are always going to increase the rate, etc. etc. It is an oversimplification to say that total return is all that matters but all of the aforementioned traits of dividend ETFs are descriptive traits and not advantages. If you want less volatility, there are options with more total return. If you want less tech, there are options with more total return. If you want stocks that will only go up, there are options with more total return. For young investors, it is mostly a psychological tool that keeps the carrot in front of you. The best investor is a diligent one, and if getting $4 every month from your brokerage is enough to keep you drooling then go for it p.s. I never see the SCHD'ers and dividend'ers commenting to prioritizing your tax-advantaged accounts (since dividends sit best in brokerage), which I think is a big drawback for those subreddits getting popular.

British_Rover

Ah ok I didn't know that. I haven't worked for UPS in a long time and I worked for UPS after 1999. I don't touch my UPS stock it just sits there on DRIP.

Readditlovesbans

I was a bit late on Bank of America and got it in 2010\~ due to Oracle of Omaha. I wish i wish I bought more throughout the 2010's and didn't turn on DRIP until 2020\~

siboq

Did you look at Northern Oil & Gas? I’ve held them for a while, accumulating more along the way and letting the dividends DRIP. Solid company currently underperforming due to some major acquisitions in 2025 that should payoff handsomely in 2026 with the shortages and elevated prices.

Chewyfire156

I’ve put my gains into bonds and let them DRIP. I continue to buy growth in all three caps. When we get run ups in stocks I move gains into bonds when they are down. And vice versa. This is my 457/401k strategy. It has worked well for me the last few years. I’m up 20.5% since April 25. Currently at 65% stocks 35% bonds. We are going to run it hot next couple of years to “out grow” inflation if that doesn’t work we are stagnant for a few years until we actually balance the US check book by manufacturing again. Keep diversifying

Nick_OS_

My uncle put $10k in Apple in 97’. I think he said it’s worth over $2 million now with DRIP

bamadesi

Does he DRIP or no is the real question here

frankyseven

So if you only held the top 3 companies on the S&P500 in equal weight, rebalanced on January 1, and DRIP, you'd have an average annual return of 19.12% since 1980, 19.42% since 1990, 18.2% since 2000, 26.46% since 2010, and 32.78% since 2020. Buying high and selling high works better than 95% of hedge funds and you'd beat Buffet since 1990. AKA, you'd be considered the greatest investor ever.

GiGiAGoGroove

5 yrs away. We held cash all of 2025, So to me taking 80k/10% return is like 2/3 year worth of living expenses. I know even after a dip/crash it could rally again but is it appropriate to not DRIP when the price is at ATHs?

SnS2500

\> So IRA portfolio has risen 80k since January and would like profits. Huh? This is an IRA. You have your profits. If you sell some stocks and hold cash in the IRA, you have the exact same assets, except instead of stocks you have cash. Whatever you are thinking, get your head screwed on right. If you don't want some of the stocks you own, sure sell them, but don't delude yourself that changing where your money is in an IRA is anything more grandiose than rearranging the chairs. \> Is it better to DRIP the Q2 dividend and then take profits or is there a better order to do that? Doesn't matter.

icnews10

It seems that there’s a tendency for most folks to reach this stage psychologically after a period of time where the portfolio no longer feels “abstract” but is really tangible money and they don’t want to surrender it. What makes this tough is distinguishing: “I want to diversify.” from “I am letting emotions cloud my judgement on the back of recent gains.” As both will make you go in completely different directions, although one may be tricking the other into thinking it's the same direction. Also interesting is the way the discussion about DRIP can serve as a substitute question: “Do I still want to optimize for future compounding, or do I need more optionality?” The latter is typically more important.

justin_b28

next time around, only cash out what you put in plus say 20% for some profit, the rest is house money and let that shit ride. Been very happy with this, the caveat is sometimes I kick myself in the ass for not having more shares of the one thing like KO and LLY KO is boring as hell, but it has earned me a lot of money over the last 8 years or so LLY I got on one of the COVID dips (not the big big one). Started with 100 shares, sold half to cover, then rode out 50 + DRIPs. Sitting now at 70 shares just from dividend reinvesting. KO is similar, just DRIP those quarterly payments

Nice-Truck8806

their DRIP is actually terrible. they consistently pay dividends and interest late (usually a day but sometimes more), the DRIP always gets the worst fills of the day, and if you're not careful it can create fractional shares that they won't even let you sell.

Fit_Pudding_9863

Many companies that pay a dividend are very mature/stable companies. While no dividend is guaranteed, if you have a portfolio of 10 long term, consistent dividend payers, you are highly unlikely to have all 10 cut or hold their dividend in the same year. Right now I DRIP because I am growing my portfolio. There will come a day when I want steady income from my portfolio. I will be able to calculate my projected annual dividends, factor in a 10% reduction to be on the safe side, and add the dividends to my annual budget. If I want $50,000 a year from my brokerage account in retirement and only have non-dividend paying stocks, I have to decide what stock to sell and whe throughout the year. Once I sell it, it is gone. This also means you have to sell in a bear market unless you have enough alternative sources of income to cover your expenses in a down year.

Zigxy

Berkshire doesn’t really DRIP The 400m shares of Coke have been the same since 1994. They used their cash for other acquisitions. Although lately they pretty much just sit on their money.

ptwonline

Before online brokerages and zero commission trades it made more sense because trading was time-consunimg and expensive. People do it now because dividends *feel* a lot safer. People are loss-aversive and dividends are returns extracted from your investment so that the rug can never be fully pulled out from under you later if a company crashes and burns (though people often just DRIP their dividends which kills that theory, but people still feel safer that way.) They also worry about sequence of returns risk and having to sell while the stock price/market is down and their portfolio failing. So they think "if I never sell, I will never run out of shares." This also leads them to avoid bonds because they feel safer and in this era of low bond returns this can boost their overall return vs someone who has an index fund and say 40% bonds for safety. These days there are also all these financial influencers peddling "passive income" leading people to buy all these high yield "dividend" products. They see it as a way to put money aside to generate income for themselves now and into the future, but since traditional dividends pay so little these passive investors would get almost nothing from the little bit of money they set aside. So they get lured in with all these promises of 10, 15, 20% returns which have looked really good in a rising market because they pocket all this money and their shares haven't really collapsed in price and so they see it as a kind of can't lose situation where they get such eye-popping returns and feel safe. Alas, this is a trap and a lot of people will feel the sting at some point if they don't get out.

Soberishhh

If you don’t have a Roth you should start by maxing out contributions to that yearly. 7500$, if you did that in the S&P at a below average return you’d have over a million dollars alone in 32\~ years (including DRIP/ reinvesting dividends) completely tax free. Anything over that is just extra

DreadPirateRobertsIl

Dividend plays can be fun. I bought IRM during Covid as an income play and stacked the 8%+ dividend with DRIP for years at a depressed price. Then once it got wrapped up in the AI buildout / data center bubble, the price soared and the cheap shares I had been stacking compounded nicely to become one of my best plays. Did something similar with USAC. Granted this requires finding extremely high dividend stocks that will NEVER cut their dividend.

meezy-yall

Besides buying it cheap like others said the real magic is in the DRIP . He’s using the dividend payout to essentially bank more free shares which in turn ups his dividend payout. Compounding over decades it really adds up

the_Q_spice

Also in terms of Roth accounts or DRIP: Double compounding interest. The more shares you get, the more dividend you get; the more dividend you get, the more it reinvests into shares; the more shares you get… TLDR; Positive feedback loop, and profits in Roth accounts are tax free (subject to withdrawal restrictions).

xXBleedOrangeXx

$DRIP Was wondering what anybody's experiences are or if I am making the correct read here. I feel like oil and gas prices can't get worse than they are now. With this inverse 2x leverage ETF, I feel like this could be a easy 2x play. Am I reading into this correctly or am I an idiot? Currently sitting at $4.62, the beginning of the year it was $10

xXBleedOrangeXx

$DRIP Was wondering what anybody's experiences are or if I am making the correct read here. I feel like oil and gas prices can't get worse than they are now. With this inverse 2x leverage ETF, I feel like this could be a easy 2x play. Am I reading into this correctly or am I an idiot? Currently sitting at $4.62, the beginning of the year it was $10

Miguel1219

Consolidate consolidate consolidate creating your own mini version of an S&P 500 ETF. I see a whole lot of fractional shares of just about everything. The only thing you have a full share of is two dollars a share you don’t even own a whole share of Ford and Ford is $12. Just ask yourself. What are you trying to accomplish with your investing? Are you trying to invest in household names that you know because that’s not a very good strategy that’s what I used to do. I’m no master investor or anything. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t know too much more than you might, but if you were to sell everything and put everything into VOO, VTI, SPY, are any big ETFs that mirror the S&P 500? You would get much more diversity and exposure over so many more companies with just one share of any of those ETFs as opposed to having fractional shares of multiple single stocks. Verizon is a really good dividend stock. I have it myself, and I have a few shares of it, but I would encourage you to put everything into an S&P 500, ETF and cautiously branch out into a single stocks for dividends and take full advantage of the DRIP.

nivek_123k

a person can sit the markets out waiting for a correction a looong time. it's better to be a player in the game than sit on the sidelines. have a plan and stick to it. DCA/DRIP for the win... that's the only edge the general public has.

shaggrugg

this image on etrade looks even better when you have DRIP on for 14 years.

dwoj206

I mean SPYI&QQQI return 12+% per year + market RoR. Doubling in 8-10 years totally possible. Obviously potential for drawdowns, but you still get the 12% per year. DRIP and chill.

jeff8073x

I've been holding oil tankers for 5 or 6 years now. And no plan to lose em. With DRIP - some up over 1000%. Was reading that the impacts from this disruption will take years to resolve. For tankers it's related to countries replenishing their reserves or short term new routes while middle east gets back up and running to max. Plus some permanent tonnage shifts from countries that'll want to simply avoid hormuz - tiny impact, but meaningful. Combo that with SK cornering a lot of the market, and tankers seem to have room to run.

breakyourteethnow

I know that's very hypothetical, what can count on is income generation through covered calls yielding around 10%, repurchasing of shares through DRIP at cheaper prices if market dumps allowing for faster recovery, and the new shares accumulated to purchase more shares compounding. These are all things the chart won't show percentage wise just looking at a 5 year chart for example. It has less beta and volatility than QQQ. They only sell covered calls on 25-75% of the underlying, depending market conditions so there's no nav erosion and actually make an income.

0o0o0o0o0o0z

> I did do this: I estimated aprox 2 years of expenses and converted funds into 3 & 6 month rotating CDs and bonds. As the bonds mature, I keep 3 months of cash. Why not just put that into SGOV? I think it's pretty tax-efficient, depending on your state (no state tax). You could just DRIP it. Probably would be a better bang for the buck?

Civil-Heat-9913

Sit on cash for a little and wait for private debt to crash. When it does, buy up BDC at cheap prices and turn DRIP on. I’m a debt collector. I don’t collect on business debt but some of my colleagues do. Bozo business owner sells future receivables to a company, fails to pay them back, you know the rest of the story. I will add these loans are guaranteed by a person as well, but that doesn’t usually help.

TheoryOfTES

I'm in my early 30s and currently have 0. I dislike retirement accounts. However, I do have 2 broker accounts, one of them acts as a "retirement" account. Its nothing but 50/50 of VOO and QQQM with DRIP. It's currently sitting at 175k. My other one is just several hand picked stocks, when I sell one, any gains it may have then get flushed into the "retirement" one. It certainly not the most tax advantageous method, but it does come with other freedoms, easily accessible if needed, no early withdrawal penalties, I can put it elsewhere if I need supplemental income.

patrickswayzemullet

But same thing still. Forget the property or warehouse. Great pay $500,000 (34%) for your $1.5M home. It really doesnt matter. The point is you have higher money in hand. You have $4.5 for VOO that you can DRIP and sell covered calls or wheel. So you get 10%. Thats 450,000 per year. You likely arent blowing all that per year. So you pay the mortgage, and reinvest the remainder (DRIP). If you bought your home outright you have $3.5M, generating $350,000. So for mortgage to come worse off, all the associated costs must be $100,001 or more. Because at that point you are better off paying cash. But really how likely is that? (I think again, because people just read the first chunk they find controversial, I would still pay off for PERSONAL peace of mind. Mathematically harder to justify paying off right away. I may not take the whole 30 years, but I definitely prefer the larger chunk to begin with especially as a new homeowner).

patrickswayzemullet

Especially in the US when you have that stupid flat 30 year mortgage. What are we doing here? Do you really need an explanation? If you have $5M cash and want to retire, you could buy one home in SF for $1.5M outright. OK great. You very likely are doing fine with the interest from $3.5M. I concede. Or you could just buy two such homes for 2x500,000 downpayment, turn one to rental. You get cashflow. Or you just buy one for $500,000, so you still have $4,500,000, and just use the interest to live and pay off the cheap mortgage. Your market performance likely beats the mortgage rate. What if you have $50M, $500M, $5B, same principles. You can manage these cheap debts , buy multiple homes for investments or business workshops, and come out ahead. But I also concede, if i was in this situation I would be more inclined in paying cash knowing I would screw up the investment and DRIP. And that relief of having paid off your home is a big deal. Just economically, the richer you are the better off or the more well-placed your money will be by playing these cheap debts… when you are poor you arent thinking about these because thats your only option (mortgage). I hope you were kidding btw. This is super obvious.

LLuxifyLife

Or.... do the boring thing take 75% of that put it into REIT and Dividend Bonds, and make the Dividend Bonds DRIP, this and use maybe 3-5% in a high % compounding hourly interest 15-20% crypto account with no lock up time line and now your sitting on boring but working money and u can still take 25% or less and see if you are jusf a fluke win or if your able to control yourself and on take plays which stats and probs say will go in your favor. This strat isnt about the inevitable lose, dont listen to them. If that was true institutions would be losing they dont. So you can try balancing the boring but working money in a completely different accounts portfolio and making slow compounding money on the backend, and high probability plays with the 25% you keep in options.

PowerLion786

Did a lot of reading when getting into the market. Read about an investing club that did "time in the market" from the start of last century. That's through WW1, the 1920's, the 1930s, WW2, the 1950s and through to the 1990s. DRIP investing. Stopped following, but I copied them. They all ended up multimillionaires. Let's just sat time in the market works very well. Look at BRK.

BNA-mod

2.8% is below inflation. Not even a consideration at this time. DRIP is not always great. I like to pick where to reinvest my dividends. Your portfolio seems fairly well balanced. Especially if you have a tax deferred account, consider adding a higher dividend generator like PDI (noting that lowest share prices are usually towards months end since it pays monthly dividend @15%.

LosReason

Cancel the DRIP and pay the mortgage with the dividends. Then you do not worry the monthly payment, which is probably your wife's concern. Meet in the middle, you will leave some on the table, but she can sleep better.