I'm looking to build a diversified portfolio that generates hopefully 30K worth of qualified dividend per year for a steady stream of tax-free base income. I prefer to build this through ETFs. A few ETFs I own so far are your classic high yield or dividend growth ETFs (i.e. VYM, VYMI, SCHD, DGRO) and a preferred stock ETF (PFFD). Are there any other ETFs others would suggest or utilize that generate hefty qualified dividends, but still are quality investments. Also does anyone know if there's a website where you can filter for all ETFs that generate qualified dividends?
Maximizing Qualified Dividend 0% Taxes
- Thread starter milford
- Start date
VanWinkle
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Buying multiple high dividend ETFs will create multiple funds with the same high dividend stocks. If you check the top 10 stocks in each ETF, you may find the correlation is 100%. I would just pick 1 ETF with the qualified dividend rate you require and go from there. I am not a dividend investor so others may have a better answer for you.
I have SCHD & VIG. The dividend growth ETFs (DGRO, VIG, VIGI) don’t really have high yields.
If you have to add another dividend ETF, you could look at SPYD. It seems to hold more commodity-based equities, so it’s done especially well lately.
If you have to add another dividend ETF, you could look at SPYD. It seems to hold more commodity-based equities, so it’s done especially well lately.
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If you are new to dividend investing, I presume you are familiar with the total return investing concept that dividends are not magic, just a forced taxable transfer of money from the company to you. So using the word “income” is not correct, it is a withdrawal from your portfolio.
The arguments for dividend investing are generally along the lines that this particular cash flow of the company is more stable than other cash flows, dividends enforce fiscal discipline on the company, etc. Let’s stipulate that both kinds of investors will probably be successful if they start with enough money and let’s instead focus the pros and cons for you.
One positive aspect of dividend investing that is not often discussed is your future self (or your spouse if you are gone) may have less capacity to manage a portfolio and avoid mistakes. If you collect enough dividends, you never have to actively sell anything, and that may make the portfolio easier to manage. Maybe that helps you avoid big mistakes in the future. Certainly, you would have plenty of company, including my wife, in the desire to make things as simple as possible.
The total return folks would point out that an advantage of the total return investing style is the chance to reduce lifetime taxes. When you need cash and sell stock, only the gains are taxed, meaning each $ of cash flow generates less than $1 of AGI, so you have a better chance of being able to tax gain harvest, Roth convert, get ACA subsidies, avoid IRMAA surcharges, etc. than with big dividends. Remember, your heirs get a step-up basis in capital gains upon your death, so it’s not a pay-me-now or pay-me-later issue, if you defer taxes long enough, they go away.
Also, the total return logic is that you can only make the dividends perfectly balance expenses at one point in time. If stocks go up and dividends increase or once SS and RMDs get going, you will get more dividends than you need, meaning a bigger tax liability than you would have had with total return investing and just selling what you need, when you need it.
As an aside, it's not clear to me where you are getting the funds to buy these stocks. If you are selling other stocks, then you may be incurring capital gains taxes on the sale. If you are selling bonds or using cash, then you are changing your portfolio risk - dividend stocks are stocks and can go belly up like stocks, they are not bonds. Everyone has to make their own choices, just make sure you've done your homework so you have eyes wide open.
The arguments for dividend investing are generally along the lines that this particular cash flow of the company is more stable than other cash flows, dividends enforce fiscal discipline on the company, etc. Let’s stipulate that both kinds of investors will probably be successful if they start with enough money and let’s instead focus the pros and cons for you.
One positive aspect of dividend investing that is not often discussed is your future self (or your spouse if you are gone) may have less capacity to manage a portfolio and avoid mistakes. If you collect enough dividends, you never have to actively sell anything, and that may make the portfolio easier to manage. Maybe that helps you avoid big mistakes in the future. Certainly, you would have plenty of company, including my wife, in the desire to make things as simple as possible.
The total return folks would point out that an advantage of the total return investing style is the chance to reduce lifetime taxes. When you need cash and sell stock, only the gains are taxed, meaning each $ of cash flow generates less than $1 of AGI, so you have a better chance of being able to tax gain harvest, Roth convert, get ACA subsidies, avoid IRMAA surcharges, etc. than with big dividends. Remember, your heirs get a step-up basis in capital gains upon your death, so it’s not a pay-me-now or pay-me-later issue, if you defer taxes long enough, they go away.
Also, the total return logic is that you can only make the dividends perfectly balance expenses at one point in time. If stocks go up and dividends increase or once SS and RMDs get going, you will get more dividends than you need, meaning a bigger tax liability than you would have had with total return investing and just selling what you need, when you need it.
As an aside, it's not clear to me where you are getting the funds to buy these stocks. If you are selling other stocks, then you may be incurring capital gains taxes on the sale. If you are selling bonds or using cash, then you are changing your portfolio risk - dividend stocks are stocks and can go belly up like stocks, they are not bonds. Everyone has to make their own choices, just make sure you've done your homework so you have eyes wide open.
Thanks for the detailed analysis of all the pros and cons, I am aware of the don't fall into the trap of the "free lunch" concept and make sure I focus on total returns, but the other nuisances you mentioned has given me a new perspective.
My main goal is to create a portfolio that's simply, efficient, and will generate some passive income because I believe the market will be choppy the next few years.
