DRIP

emceter

I’ve been making about 150 a month from a 10k investment into JEPQ that’s been just set to DRIP for now. It was just an experiment investment. I’d say give or take 40k into it and you should be able to reach that.

URMomPaysFirMyCalls

I’m going to do an experiment. I’m buying 100 share of GIS at these lows with a 7.6% dividend with DRIP and see how many shares they turn into in 5 years. I don’t care about gains I’m going for quantity of shares.

bryoco

If you have a planned purchase like a home or college fund, dated funds like IBDU can make sense. You can DRIP or take the interest and put it back to equity.

wolfhound1793

S&P 500 has a 30y average return of 8.84% without DRIP and 10.17% with DRIP. The closer the 30y bond gets to those values, the more investors have to decide if they want "risk free" bonds or "risky" equities. And since most fundamentals are based off of income growth and/or return to shareholders, the higher bond yields go the higher investors want the stock yield to go to account for the risk premium. Yields and price move inversely to each other, so as stock yield goes up, stock prices go down. finally, growth stocks are frequently funded directly or indirectly with debt, either directly by taking out bonds themselves or indirectly through their shareholders using margin to buy more shares. As bonds go up in yield, debt goes up as well which means the "safe amount of margin" goes down. And there comes a point where no amount of margin is safe and that removes a lot of the wind from growth's sails.

dsposableaccount

Not to 1 up you but I got lucky on the timing and bought at $117 in Nov. of '22. If i calculated correctly, it's about a CAGR of 51%. Total return of 568%. I too plan to continue holding but won't buy any more other than reinvesting small dividends thru DRIP.

MomentSpecialist2020

I’m buying TLTW now and letting it DRIP. I think rates are going higher for longer and I’m building a nice nest egg. Stocks have probably topped except for the AI stocks. And that bubble will burst soon.

citygeek

My family is very income and asset diversified. Knock on wood we’ve not had an emergency in 20 years.. So I keep about $75k in the brokerage in low beta assets like JAAA/SGOV/CLOZ and then DRIP on so it grows faster than inflation. Also, because most of the returns are in the form of dividends, there’s not this big “cap gains if I sell” mental hurdle if I truly need to sell. The other benefit of this is that by having $75k of my portfolio in low beta assets…it serves as a sort of mental stabilizer to the general day to day market movements. Meaning, if QQQM is -20%…perhaps my portfolio only shows -15%

spendology

She couldn't resist my DRIP your honor!

Nikkybags21

I’m assuming you know what an ETF is….those are the only 4 you need honestly. If your young put less $ into SCHD. Also turn on DRIP which is just reinvesting the dividends back into the stocks and compounding gets crazy good over time.

Present_Truck3305

I hardly ever see people talking about it so I don’t know if they know something I don’t… but I really like AGNC and PSEC. They pay dividends monthly which make for great compound interest situations. I believe currently PSEC is sitting around 23% return on dividends alone and AGNC is sitting around 16-17%. That’s not calculating compound interest if you were to do DRIP. But even just putting some of this money into these could be a good idea. Theyre actually priced relatively low right now I expect them to go back up.

ra__account

Dividends often get cut when there's a prolonged downturn. Again, they're not money from nowhere. The better hedge against downturns is two or three years of stable bond funds that can be used to avoid selling at a weak spot. *if you had invested in a dividend growth portfolio it would be yielding a lot more than 4% by time you retire and growing above inflation each year.* Stable dividend growth funds don't pay 4% and don't always beat inflation. In the mean time, they tend to underperform the broader indexes. https://schrts.co/hFZYHNgu I can only link to 5 years of history, but the above chart includes DRIP at 0% tax. It varies a little by year but for the past nearly 20 years, the broader market has outperformed dividend focused funds.

Massive_Ad2049

Growth comes from the share price rising plus VTI's quarterly dividend, a little over 1% right now, not interest, that's a bond thing. With DRIP on, those dividends just buy more shares automatically. I'd skip the themed portfolios, they're narrower bets that kind of undo why you picked VTI.

CrypticSoldier

Hello. I'm late getting into the investment game for retirement, and wish I had done it sooner. I am using webull. I've had it for some time, got it a few years ago when they were giving free stocks (fractional) for depositing $50. I made my deposit, got my stocks, I cannot remember how but I also turned it into 100 dollars of crypto, and let it sit. I've since opened a Roth IRA in webull, sold the stocks (only 46ish dollars which is what I had) and put it into the Roth IRA and got VTI. I currently have $20/week (as much as I can afford right now) going in with a reoccurring to get more VTI. I have the DRIP activated for any dividends to get more VTI. I've seen mixed reviews on using WeBull and still very new to learning all of this. I have retirement through my employment, contributing 4% (the max they'll let me do) with them matching 2.5%. I am planning not contact my retirement to get some investments going on that end too. What I'm looking to know is, should I continue with Webull or move it somewhere else? I'd like to liquidate the crypto and get it into my IRA, but I understand this is a taxable event, though I'm not sure what the ramifications are for doing this. From the little research I've done, VTI seems like a solid investment choice, that or VOO, but I understand that VTI holds the same stuff VOO does so it's buying double? I read something about getting some VXUS to get into the international market? I'm not entirely sure what all to invest into. My main goal is to just try and build something to supplement my retirement, not get rich quick. I don't have the knowledge, and most likely the time, definitely not the money to day trade. I appreciate the time and help. 🫡

TheGamingGallifreyan

Im bout to just full port into QQQI, turn on DRIP, and just uninstall the app for a year. Will make way more that way at this rate.

bwood01

Consider that an emergency fund could be something like TLT (20 year treasury EFT). It pays monthly and you can use DRIP to reinvest automatically. In most trading platforms if you connect your regular bank you can move money back and forth fairly quickly. TLT: (as of 9/14/26) 4.81% - 5.14% PLUS any gain on the underlying EFT share price. It is down about as low as it can go. While there is risk, it is at a low of the 2008 finance crash. I can't see the Fed or Treasury letting it continue to sink. So, you could have your emergency fund in a quick access way (semi-liquid), get the highest interest rates available for "ready" cash, keep it on hand and let it grow over time. Under the Rule of 72 and a 5% CAGR return, that would double whatever safety net you have in about 14 years without doing anything. Assuming it isn't needed, or, is quickly replenished if needed, that is super low-risk and offers an okay return over time.

Psilocybin_Prescrip

Putting 1.1 mil in SCHD and not contributing anything afterwards would have given you 32k in dividends the first year. In 10 years with DRIP the yearly dividend would have grown to almost 100k with an ending balance of $3,688,187. Highly regarded.

Jforjustice

If this were me… not any kind of professional advice but just as a neighbor / stranger / father, I would just suggest selling it all, buying VOO and turn in DRIP. And forget it Neither companies I have a love for, personally. 

bclinton

I tool a smallish position in DRIP.....I think you're right.

klyphw

I'm long so I'm not selling and haven't stopped my monthly DRIP. It's just like shocking to see.

Helpful-Practice-475

DRIP is underrated AF, honestly. Just letting those dividends roll back in without lifting a finger? Smart move.

TreGet234

What the hell is GUSH and DRIP

CompetitiveIntern622

Leveraged ETFs. Go big or go home. Pick your favorite 10 and drop in 100k each. If taxes are being ignored you could also do 100k in some of the CC ETFs that cover memory / AI / tech and turn on DRIP/auto reinvestment.

userinfrisco

48, in the US. 250k in 401k acct, 500k in investment account. Moved from stocks to ETFs, looking to build income in 8-12 years for a soft retirement, earning 10k+ monthly. Currently qqqi, jepq, spyi, and mlpi. Mostly in qqqi. DRIP on all. Based on models I’ve run, in that 8-12 year period I should be able to hit 10k+ after tax per month fairly easily, while covering taxes myself until then. I have monthly and quarterly reviews watching peer divergence, nav erosion, etc. I can’t find a better way to diversify while maintaining the same growth, and don’t want the single large tax bill of selling off voo or schd or something and burning through my principal. I understand the risks and feel like the 4 year +\\- flexibility, monthly fund analysis and review, plus a side hysa with a years expenses should be good. Does my approach and goal seem feasible?

SeaShelter4244

Thank you for an actual intuitive response. I've already shut off the DRIP. My thought was to hold my existing dividend stocks as dry powder, and when the overall market is down sell my existing holdings during the low to reduce capital gains while simultaneously purchasing broad market ETF's at the same discount that I sold my legacy holdings. Sort of like tax loss harvesting. This would reduce my immediate capital gains compared to making the exchange at market highs. I was just curious if anyone had any other strategies for deferring gains. Maybe I should just straddle the sale to reduce the emotional impact of writing Uncle Sam a big check. Again, thanks for your input.

taplar

One thing you could do is turn off your DRIP and start taking those dividends and shifting them to the other funds you are wanting to shift into. Don't wait for a dip to sell your holdings, if your concern is taxes. Between selling for $0 gain and paying no taxes, and selling for $x gain and paying taxes, which situation would leave you with more money? You're not being taxed 100% of your gains. All that to say though, the bigger thing to make sure of is that you are not focusing on just taxes. From your post, I "think" what you are trying to do is shift away from the forced tax events of dividends and get into growth funds. That can make sense, provided that you've done the evaluation that suggests the amount of portfolio growth you would have with those lower tax holdings would exceed continuing to hold the higher tax dividend holdings. That's not guaranteed to be, or not be, the case.

shawman123

MSFT went up loat more over past decade. its up 786%(900% with DRIP). This feels like 2019-2020 purchase if it was all in one go. Even 2022 it hit 200 bucks.

MattieShoes

I think it's less relevant than that. You turn on DRIP, and your utility will grow exponentially too -- it'll just come from number of shares rather than price per share. I mean, utilities are boring and relative recession proof with lower returns, so they aren't going to be as exciting as tech, but your money is still an exponential curve.

MattieShoes

They aren't pointless, but they also aren't something to seek out. They're just kind of... irrelevant. They had purpose when you had to buy and sell stocks in lots of 100 and had high trade fees and you wanted passive income. Now? It's just a part of total return. If you want dividends, great. If you don't, DRIP. For stocks that don't pay dividends, you can accomplish the same thing as dividends by selling shares. Or fractional shares. Whatever, it all comes out in the wash. Theoretically dividends are worse than share price appreciation because you're being forced to realize gains rather than choosing when to do it. But for most of us, that's mice nuts. If it's a good company with a risk/reward balance that you like, great. If it's not, then don't. No need for the existence or or size of dividends to be a part of the decision making process. Special exception for stuff like REITs. They tend to be short term CG (ie. taxed as income). Even that doesn't mean you shouldn't own them, just that you need to factor that in, or buy them in retirement accounts where there's no tax burden.

KYEEZY98

The best investment strategy since the 90s hasnt been tech. It's be Altria/Marlboro with DRIP

Difficult_Fact_2849

Thanks for all the information…so if I tried it with the interest free $1000 would using DRIP work?

Difficult_Fact_2849

Do you use DRIP in this situation?

OrdinaryReasonable63

Total return for JEPQ is 89% with DRIP (dividend reinvestment), comparable to VOO over the lifespan of JEPQ. Looking at nominal return for income focused ETFs is a smooth brained maneuver.

samwichse

Bought SPY a bit less than a year ago (October) and it's up 16.6% with 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.