Dividend Monthly Income Calculator
Work in either direction: the capital a target monthly income requires, or the monthly income a portfolio produces at a given yield.
Assumes the yield holds and dividends are paid evenly through the year. Real payouts are usually quarterly or monthly and can change. High yields often signal higher risk, a payout that gets cut changes this math immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do I need for $1,000 a month in dividends?
Target annual income divided by portfolio yield. At a 4% yield, $1,000 a month ($12,000 a year) requires $300,000. At 3%, it requires $400,000. The calculator does this division for any target and yield.
Why does a higher assumed yield lower the required capital so much?
Required capital is inversely proportional to yield. But reaching for yield has a cost: unusually high yields are frequently followed by dividend cuts, which lowers income exactly when the math assumed it wouldn't.
Do dividends actually arrive monthly?
Most US companies pay quarterly; some funds and a minority of stocks pay monthly. A portfolio's payments cluster around its holdings' schedules. The smooth monthly figure here is an average, not a payment calendar.
The other four calculators, with worked examples computed from real payout records, are on the calculator hub. Every covered ticker also has a version with its own trailing payout pre-loaded, linked from the dividend tables. The model behind these results is written out on the methodology page.