Dividend ETF income calculator

Enter a starting amount, a monthly deposit, a dividend ETF and a number of years. The calculator steps through every payout the fund would make, weekly, monthly or quarterly, adding your deposits, paying the dividend, taking out tax if you set a rate, and reinvesting the rest if dividend reinvestment is on. It then shows your projected monthly dividend income, account balance and total dividends collected.

Divide the yearly income you want by the fund's dividend yield. $1,000 a month is $12,000 a year, so at a 3% yield you'd need about $400,000 invested, at 7.5% about $160,000, and at 12% about $100,000, before taxes. Higher yields usually come with more risk, and some high-yield funds lose share value over time. Set a monthly goal in the calculator to see exactly when your plan reaches it.

DRIP stands for dividend reinvestment plan. Instead of taking dividends as cash, each payout buys more shares of the fund. Those new shares pay dividends of their own, so your income compounds over time. Turn Reinvest dividends on or off in Plan settings to compare the difference.

Yield on cost is your yearly dividend income divided by the total amount of money you put in. Because reinvested dividends keep adding shares, your yield on cost can grow well above the fund's current yield the longer you hold.

Not by themselves. At the same yield, a fund pays the same yearly income whether it pays weekly, monthly or quarterly. More frequent payouts give you smoother cash flow and, with reinvesting on, get your dividends back to work a little sooner, which adds a small amount of extra compounding.

Fund data, including yields, expense ratios and payout frequency, comes from the TopDividendETFsPRO.com database, which is reviewed and updated daily. Always confirm current details with the fund issuer before investing.

Keeping the share price flat makes the math simple and transparent, so you can see exactly how deposits, yield and reinvestment add up. Real share prices rise and fall, and some higher-yield and option-income ETFs have seen their share prices and distributions decline over time, so treat every result as an illustration rather than a forecast.

The calculator applies one flat tax rate that you choose, starting at 0%. Real dividend taxes depend on whether distributions are qualified, ordinary income or return of capital, on your income and state, and on your account type. Roth IRA and IRA or 401(k) options skip tax during the projection. This isn't tax advice, so check with a tax professional.

Yes. The calculator is completely free, with no sign-up and no account. It's part of a family of free and premium tools for dividend investors.