Dividend Portfolio Update for August

I’m a little bit late posting this month as I haven’t been feeling the best which is a great reminder of why dividends are so important. You may love your job, you might earn great money, and your health is hopefully excellent, but sometimes life just happens and you become ill or have an accident which prevents you from working. Then what?

Dividends are a great safety net and so much more. They’re so absolutely essential that I can confidently call you retarded if you’re working and not buying more dividend stocks every week.

The only reason you would not be investing each week is that your dividends already cover your living expenses twice over and you’re reinvesting half of all your dividends. There’s no other sane reason for working and choosing to not invest every week. NONE. You’re either retarded or you’re investing every week. Which one are you?

ETF Dividend Payments in August

August was just the monthly paying ETFs so it was always going to be lower but they’re now well above $100 which is great.

JPEQ paid out $45.14, FEPI distributed $36.60, MSTY paid out twice $24.74 and 22.54, and QQQI gave me $26.19, which is a total of $155.21 for the month of August. So I’m assuming MSTY won’t pay out in September as they sent a payment at the start and end of the month.

This time last year the portfolio made $43.54 in dividends for the month of August which is a 256% increase YoY (year on year).

The rolling 6 month, monthly dividend payment was $173.66 last month. It has grown by $11.33 per month to $184.99. Anything above a $10 per month average increase is a win and I’ll take August as a win! Woohoo.

The ETF Dividend Portfolio for August

This month the ETF dividend portfolio has increased to $31,819 up from $30,795 in July which is an increase of about $1,024. New contributions were $685 which means the market contributed about $338 in gains for the month.

I usually try to add 5 new JEPQ (listed as JPEQ in Australia) shares but only managed to add 2 this month. I added more to the other Nasdaq covered call ETF that I own with $248 going to QQQI. I also added a couple of ATEC (Australian technology ETF).

The other contributions went towards a new ETF I started to buy in August: HYLD. The S&P Australian Shares High Yield ETF holds 50 high-yielding Australian companies and aims to avoid dividend traps and companies with volatile dividends. Normally I wouldn’t be interested in such an ETF as I already hold VHY from Vanguard who does something very similar. But HYLD will pay monthly rather than the quarterly paying VHY.

Oh and HYLD is a brand new ETF which usually turns me off but I like what Betashares has been doing with some other ETFs that I hold so I’m happy to take the risk of owning something so shiny and new. I’m hoping it’ll pay a dividend of 4% or 5%.

Just as a note, the ticker symbols ending in .AX are Australian listed ETFs and those without them are US listed ETFs. The US listed prices and average cost per share are in US dollars but everything else like market value and total dividend income are in Australian dollars.

Here’s what the ETF portfolio looked like at the end of August 2025…

See the ETF Dividend Portfolio from July.

What to Expect in September

I know I have been thinking about selling FEPI for a while now but I’ve decided to keep it while the price and the dividend is steady. Receiving $36ish per month from a $2,000ish holding is nice, so if not much changes then I’ll hold it.

I’m probably more tempted to sell MSTY even though I said I’ll keep it as a reminder to keep away from ultra-high paying dividend stocks, especially those from YieldMax. They might be good for some people out there but not me.

I’ll look to add to quarterly paying ETFs who distribute dividends in October like VHY, IVV, VGS and SCHD. SCHD probably pays out in September but I don’t receive it for perhaps 10 days after the dividend is distributed because the broker that I bought them with (NAB Trade) takes SO LONG to pay out international dividends. Yes you suck for doing that NAB bank in Australia.

How has your freedom making machine been going this year? What’s your 6 month rolling monthly dividend average for your ETFs? (total dividends paid over the last 6 months, divided by 6 equals your average).

Total ETF + REIT + Managed Funds Portfolio for August

Total Index Funds portfolio value (VHY, MSTY, VGS, GEAR, JPEQ, FEPI, QQQI, SCHD, NDQ, ATEC, HYLD and IVV): $31,819 up from $30,795.

Most recent dividend payment (August): $155.21 down from $340.72 in July (Monthly dividends from JPEQ, MSTY, FEPI, and QQQI)
Dividends paid in August 2024: $43.54 which is a 256% Increase YoY (Year on Year)
6 Month Dividends Monthly Average: $184.99 up from $173.66 last month
Dividends paid in 2025 so far: $1,382.64 (this time last year it was $376.52)
Dividends paid in 2024: $725.85
All dividends paid in 2023: $102.68
All ETF dividend payments since starting the ETF portfolio: $2,243.06

ETF Dividends Goal 1: $2,000+ per year.