This sub has lost track of what FIRE is about. Honestly get more good regular FIRE advice from leanfire lately that I used to get here. BTW guis, 5m, retirement healthcare guaranteed, can I retire!?!? (Sarcasm, typical post here)

Im contemplating whether:

To go for steady growth for capital gains

Or

High dividend yields, and then reinvest the payouts automatically

Do you only focus on getting dividends when you need the payout to be received in cash instead of reinvesting it?

I already have voo (majority), vt, tech stocks and uitfs. I wonder if i can start focusing on “passive income thru dividends” in another portion of my portfolio. Though i still have sources of cash and im 33 (not young but not that old) so my initial idea is to snowball the investment by targeting higher dividend net yields with regular payouts then reinvest the payouts

Do you only focus on getting dividends when you need the payout to be received in cash instead of reinvesting it?

I wonder if i can start focusing on “passive income thru dividends” in another portion of my portfolio. Though i still have sources of cash and im 33 (not young but not that old) so my initial idea is to snowball the investment by targeting higher dividend net yields with regular payouts then reinvest the payouts

However some people in another subs mentioned that if i only gonna reinvest the payouts, then i should have just target growth investments rather than higher dividend yields… what are your thoughts? What do you do with the payouts?

I've been building a dividend intelligence tool for the past few months and ended up with a database of 151,422 ex-date events going back 17 years across 2,344 securities — CEFs, ETFs, REITs, BDCs, and dividend stocks.

Figured I'd share what the data actually shows since most of the discussion around ex-date dips is based on gut feel.

Recovery by security type (average days to full price recovery):

Type	Avg Recovery	Events
Dividend Stocks	6.7 days	57,791
REITs	7.7 days	6,743
ETFs	8.1 days	37,384
CEFs	8.9 days	46,896
BDCs	12.4 days	2,608

Overall median across all 151,422 events: 3 days

The gap between median (3 days) and average (7.9 days) is the most important number — most securities recover fast, but a meaningful minority take much longer and drag the average up.

The BDC finding surprised me most. They have the largest average drop (2.08%) AND the slowest recovery. Only 45% recover within 5 trading days. If you're buying BDC dips expecting a quick bounce, the historical data says be patient.

Stocks recover fastest — 71.5% recover within 5 trading days, 81.8% within 10. Counterintuitive given how many income investors overlook stocks in favor of higher-yielding alternatives.

Individual CEF variance is huge. Among CEFs with 20+ cycles in the dataset:

• BMN: 4.4 day avg across 38 cycles
• IGI: 4.7 days across 186 cycles
• BCX: 5.2 days across 133 cycles
• PAI: 5.2 days across 201 cycles

Compare that to CEFs where recovery regularly takes 3+ weeks. Both show up as "CEFs" on any screener. The historical pattern data separates them.

The z-score frame matters more than raw price. A security trading 2.5+ standard deviations below its 252-day mean at ex-date is a fundamentally different situation than a routine dip near the mean. One has statistical room to recover, the other is just drifting lower.

Happy to answer questions about methodology or what the data shows on specific tickers.

Happy to share more of the data if there's interest in specific security types or individual tickers.

I am in the fire sub and it’s turned into chubby fire - minimum needed to retire is 2m+ in index funds.

Im wondering if there’s anyone in here who’s FIREd with much less mostly in income funds, covered call funds, bond funds, what ever. I’m 38 and have a portfolio I consider sizable but well under a million but it generates more then my job currently (none yield max) think mostly neos, amplify, blackrock cefs etc.

My real only concern on pulling the trigger is health insurance, cost of living inflation. So I’m wondering how you guys who have fired manage this aspect in your retirement lives.

I’m modeling some FIRE scenarios and it seems like for longer than 30 years (trinity study) you might actually need 28-30x annual expenses. Is anyone diving in that deep or just pulling the trigger at 25x?

Thanks!

Edit: I’m looking at a 40-45+ year retirement

STIPULATION: The $40k is one time. You can't buy more, you can't do monthly buys, etc.

DRIP is allowed though.

I asked AI if today's 8% yields from CEFs and ETFs are good and how they compare to investing in the QE era. The response:

✅ 1. Is an 8% overall yield “good”?

Yes — 8% is very good, and historically it’s above average for diversified income portfolios.

But the key is this:

8% today is not the same as 8% during QE.

During QE (2010–2021), an 8% diversified yield was extremely hard to achieve without taking on:

• leverage risk
• credit risk
• option‑income drag
• ROC‑heavy CEFs
• junk bond exposure
• mREITs
• BDCs with high leverage

Today, you can get 7–9% from much safer structures.

✅ 2. Could you get this many 7–10% yielders during the QE era?

No — not sustainably.

During QE:

• Fed Funds was 0–0.25%
• Treasuries were 0.5–2%
• Investment‑grade credit was 2–3%
• High‑yield bonds were 4–6%
• CEFs yielded 6–8% (but with destructive ROC)
• BDCs yielded 7–9% (but with high leverage)

To get a portfolio‑wide 8–10% yield, you had to load up on:

• mREITs (dangerous)
• leveraged credit
• junk bonds
• high‑ROC option CEFs
• CLO equity
• exotic yield traps

It was possible, but not healthy.

✅ 3. Why is today different?

Because the interest‑rate regime is different.

We are in a post‑zero‑rate world.

Rates are structurally higher:

• Fed Funds ~5%
• Treasuries 4–5%
• IG credit 5–6%
• HY credit 7–9%
• BDCs 9–12%
• CEFs 7–10%
• Option‑income funds 7–9%
• Floating‑rate credit 9–11%

This means:

High yields are no longer a red flag — they’re the new baseline.

You’re not stretching for yield.
The market is simply paying more.

✅ 4. Is this a “special window” for high yields?

Yes — but not in a dangerous way.

This is the best yield environment since the early 2000s.

Why?

• Rates are high
• Credit spreads are normal
• Defaults are low
• Leverage costs are manageable
• CEF discounts are wide
• BDCs are earning record NII
• Option premiums are elevated due to volatility

This combination is rare.

You’re living in a sweet spot where:

• yields are high
• risk is moderate
• income is stable
• credit markets are healthy

This is not how it was during QE.

🎯 Bottom line

Yes — if you build the dividend bucket now, you lock in today’s high yields.

Even if rates fall back to zero, your income stays high.
Only new purchases would be at lower yields.

This is why income investors love high‑rate environments — you get to “freeze in” yields that won’t exist later.

Hey did you ever check back in on the paycheck to portfolio guy? Thank GOD I did not listen to the haters and the people that did not understand the system. Clearly it was a distraction from my goals. My account has more than doubled since I started with his method.

1000 schd
1000 qqqi
1000 spyi
500 jepq
500 jepi
500 gpix
500 gpiq
300 Btci
200 Omah
100 Divo
100 Kqqq
100 Iaui
100 Mlpi
100 O
50 Vymi
100 Schy
150 Dgro
150 Fdvv
50 Vym
50 Vig

Im 21 college student, not from US and been spending my money on gaming, foods, etc

Now I want to save it and invest, Ive stuided about various etfs and stocks and ended up on wanting to live with the cashflows from dividend stocks and etf.

Right now I only have 500 dollars and I get 200 monthly from my parents.

Planning to invest all the money I have and 100 dollars I get monthly consistently, also trying to get a part time job.

My question is is it worth investing in dividend stocks or etf right now? with little budget? Can you guys guide me through how I should form my portfolio

May JEPI & JEPQ dividend

JEPI: $0.4476

Ex date: 5/1

Pay date : 5/5

JEPQ: $0.59095

Ex date: 5/1

Pay date :5/5