It’s a new year and time to start working towards a new goal for the ETF portfolio. The first goal has been achieved ($2,000 in dividends in one calendar year) and now for something ten times more challenging! Actually it’s twelve times more challenging to be precise!!
The goal is to earn $2,000+ every month in dividends from the ETF portfolio. This sort of money would allow you to live in a country with a low cost of living if you’re reasonably frugal. Think countries like Thailand, Vietnam or the Philippines, all possible if you live within a budget.
So this is a meaningful goal that will give me a lot more options in life. $2,000 per year is nice but it doesn’t give me many, if any, new choices in life. But $2,000 per month is enough to meaningfully change the way you live. It’s not rich money and you still couldn’t pay all of the bills in most western countries, but there are many more options on the table with this sort of money coming in each month.
ETF Dividend Income in January
January was the monthly, quarterly and twice yearly paying stocks. Basically everything except for SCHD and NDQ which hasn’t paid out any dividend this January.
JPEQ paid out $63.05, FEPI distributed $41.43, HYLD sent out $2.50, IVV came good with $14.10, ATEC gave me $2.17, GEAR impressed with $44.56, VHY underwhelmed me with $40.81, VGS coughed up $10.89, and QQQI gave me $34.47, which is a total of $253.98 for the month of January.
This time last year the portfolio made $185.96 in dividends for the month of January which is a 36% increase YoY (year on year).
The rolling 6 month, monthly dividend payment was $192.23 last month. It has decreased by a disastrous $14.46 per month to $177.77. The month that dropped off the rolling 6 month average was July 2025 which paid out an impressive $340.72 so I knew I was in trouble when I saw that VHY was only paying out $40.81 this month. It needed to be $140 to avoid this decrease. Still, onwards and upwards!
The ETF Dividend Portfolio for December
This month the ETF dividend portfolio has decreased to $34,853 down from $35,438 in December which is decrease of about $585. New contributions were smaller than usual with just $257.75 added, which means that the portfolio would have went backwards by about $842 if I didn’t add any new money. Not a good start to the year. Lets hope this isn’t a taste of things to come for 2026.
I added 2 shares to JEPQ (listed as JPEQ in Australia), added $31.48 to HYLD, and bought $102.92 worth of ATEC (Australian technology ETF).
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 January 2026…
See the ETF Dividend Portfolio from December.
What to Expect in February
I had some bills in January and couldn’t add as much as I would have liked. I’m hoping to add more in February but it probably won’t be by much.
The potential threat of AI (artificial intelligence) to software companies has become the boogeyman right now. So things like ATEC (Australian tech ETF) and NDQ (Nasdaq 100 tech index) are both suffering. I’ll try to add some of both while their prices are down.
The main focus has to be good dividend paying ETFs though as I really want to achieve this goal of $2,000 per month in dividends.
How has your freedom making machine started the 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 January
Total Index Funds portfolio value (VHY, VGS, GEAR, JPEQ, FEPI, QQQI, SCHD, NDQ, ATEC, HYLD and IVV): $34,853 down from $35,438.
Most recent dividend payment (January): $253.98 up from $162.08 in December (Monthly and quarterly dividends from IVV, GEAR, ATEC, VHY, VGS, JPEQ, FEPI, HYLD, and QQQI)
Dividends paid in January 2025: $185.42 which is a 36% Increase YoY (Year on Year)
6 Month Dividends Monthly Average: $177.77 down from $192.23 last month
Dividends paid in 2026 (so far): $253.98
Dividends paid in 2025: $2,040.09 (181% increase)
Dividends paid in 2024: $725.85 (606% increase)
All dividends paid in 2023: $102.68
All ETF dividend payments since starting the ETF portfolio: $3,122.60
ETF Dividends Goal 2: $2,000+ per month.
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