I just noticed an interesting number for the ETF portfolio. Since starting it in September 2023 the portfolio has been paid $4,271.33 worth of dividends and with the value of the portfolio currently sitting at $42,679 it has earned about 10% dividends. I know this is not an annual number and it doesn’t really mean much but it just made me feel like the dividend snowball is gaining traction.
All of that amount has been put back into ETFs and I have been adding between $500 and $1000 most months, so I can start to see how this portfolio will eventually pay for a lot of my expenses in the future.
I really do love dividends! I wish I loved them this much when I was 20 years old!!!
ETF Dividend Income in July
It was the monthly, twice yearly (semi-annual), and quarterly paying stocks in July and I was expecting an all time high which was set this time last year ($340). But the Australian high yield ETF from Vanguard VHY which paid $110.10 from 55 shares in 2025 paid out just $28.46 with 70 shares held today. Which means that I would have added more than $100 to the total dividends paid if they gave the same $2.0018 per share last year instead of the current $0.4065 per share. On a positive note though, the price of the VHY stock is up about 12% over the past 12 months.
JPEQ paid out $78.20, HYLD sent out $4.32, QQQI gave me $77.23, SCHD coughed up $20.90, IVV put $17.47 in my pocket, GEAR came good with $21.09, ATEC made me smile with $19.35, the NASDAQ100 NDQ blessed me with $20.72, VGS was slightly disappointing with $20.72, VHY was epically disappointing with a pissant $28.46, and OVL‘s maiden dividend payment was $2.36, which is a total of $310.50 for the month of July.
This time last year the portfolio made $340.72 in dividends for the month of July which is a 9% decrease YoY (year on year). Year to date the dividends have been about $1,400 which is close to $200 more than the first 7 months of 2025. I wanted to be much further ahead than $200 by this point. I’m happy that I’m ahead but I’m going to do everything I can to at least double that amount by the end of the year.
The rolling 6 month, monthly dividend payment was $182.03 last month. It has increased to $191.45. That’s an increase of almost $10 per month which was one of my goals when I first started this ETF focused portfolio. I haven’t been achieving that goal much lately as I’ve had decreases or tiny increases, so it’s nice to see a bump up for a change. It should have been a much bigger bump but like I’ve already said, VHY disappointed again.
The ETF Dividend Portfolio for July
This month the ETF dividend portfolio has increased to $42,679 up from $42,285 in June which is a much more moderate increase of $394 when compared to the big jump of $3,268 last month. All increases are good increases when it comes to portfolio value. New contributions were a higher than average $1,480.62, which means that the portfolio would have decreased by roughly $1,086 if I didn’t add any new money.
I added 5 shares to JEPQ (listed as JPEQ in Australia), added $67.32 to HYLD, $786.80 to QQQI, and bought $323.66 worth of OVL (US listed covered call ETF using the S&P500).
The new ticker I added (OVL) was going to be the S&P500 covered call option ETF SPYI (from the same people who manage QQQI) but I have gone with the former as I like how their price has increased more. The catch is that the Overlay Shares Large Cap Equity ETF OVL pays a slightly lower dividend of 9% where NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF SPYI pays about 12%.
I also like that it’s not the same company managing my NASDAQ100 options ETF and my S&P500 options ETF. As much as I like NEOS and have been happy with QQQI I don’t want to put all of my eggs in one basket. I’m a big believer in diversifying everything. I’m no Warren Buffett or Charlie Munger, I want a lot of eggs from all sorts of birds in my basket!
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 July 2026…
See the ETF Dividend Portfolio from June.
What to Expect in August
I’ll be adding less to the ETF fund in August as I have some single company stock dividends coming up in September and I want to buy more before they go ex-dividend. I don’t usually talk about my stocks that aren’t ETFs but three that I’ll be adding to are the Australian companies REA, JBH and NCK.
Hopefully I can still add something to JPEQ, QQQI, and OVL.
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 July
Total Index Funds portfolio value (VHY, VGS, GEAR, JPEQ, QQQI, SCHD, NDQ, ATEC, HYLD, OVL and IVV): $42,679 up from $42,285.
Most recent dividend payment (July): $310.50 up from $163.03 in June (Monthly and quarterly dividends from JPEQ, SCHD, IVV, GEAR, ATEC, NDQ, VGS, VHY, OVL, FEPI, HYLD, and QQQI)
Dividends paid in July 2025: $340.72 which is a 9% Decrease YoY (Year on Year)
6 Month Dividends Monthly Average: $191.45 up from $182.03 last month
Dividends paid in 2026: $1,402.71 (this time last year it was $1,227.43)
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: $4,271.33
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