Well I’m late posting again, but better late than never!
This month I finally broke the $35,000 mark for the ETF portfolio! I’ve been hovering between $33,000 and $35,000 since September in 2025, that’s about 8 months!
I’ve continually added roughly $800 to the portfolio each month and I just haven’t been able to reach $36,000. It has been super frustrating but I knew it would come.
You just have to keep adding funds and trust the process. It’s also where dividends help to keep you motivated. My main focus is always to increase my dividends from the same month in the previous year (oh and funnily enough, this April was my first decrease on the previous year. I’ll explain why below!)
ETF Dividend Income in April
April was the quarterly and monthly payers so I was expecting a good month but the payout of VHY was disappointing. Last year in April it was $126.61 from 52 shares and this year it was $51.93 from 64 shares.
I honestly have no idea what any future dividend payment will be from VHY as it’s all over the place. I can’t make any logical sense from them so I just shut up and take what I’m given. I would hate to depend on this one ETF for my total income though as it would be a very feast or famine way of living.
JPEQ paid out $62.98, FEPI distributed $38.82, HYLD sent out $3.62, QQQI gave me $36.04, IVV spat out $9.77, VGS paid $9.64, SCHD coughed up $19.07 and VHY gave me a payment of $51.93, which is a total of $231.69 for the month of April.
This time last year the portfolio made $259.23 in dividends for the month of April which is a 10% decrease YoY (year on year).
The rolling 6 month, monthly dividend payment was $183.53 last month. It has decreased slightly to $182.86. That’s a decrease of $0.67 per month which is almost a win! If I’m going to have a loss then I’m happy that it’s less than one dollar! 😉
The ETF Dividend Portfolio for April
This month the ETF dividend portfolio has increased to $36,915 up from $34,450 in March which is an impressive increase of about $2,465. New contributions were $888.36, which means that the portfolio would have increased by about $1,577 if I didn’t add any new money.
I added 5 shares to JEPQ (listed as JPEQ in Australia), added $65.68 to HYLD, $301.64 to QQQI, $166.24 to the high yield Australian shares ETF VHY, and bought $63.51 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 March 2026…
See the ETF Dividend Portfolio from March.
What to Expect in May
This is where I usually predict what will happen in May but the month is about to end so I won’t be making any predictions this month!
Actually, one prediction I will make: I WILL post the next ETF portfolio update BEFORE the 5th of June!! No more procrastination.
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 April
Total Index Funds portfolio value (VHY, VGS, GEAR, JPEQ, FEPI, QQQI, SCHD, NDQ, ATEC, HYLD and IVV): $36,915 up from $34,450.
Most recent dividend payment (April): $231.69 up from $200.11 in March (Monthly and quarterly dividends from JPEQ, FEPI, HYLD, VHY, IVV, VGS, SCHD, and QQQI)
Dividends paid in April 2025: $259.23 which is a 10% Decrease YoY (Year on Year)
6 Month Dividends Monthly Average: $182.86 down from $183.53 last month
Dividends paid in 2026: $808.93 (this time last year it was $630.82)
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: $3,677.55
ETF Dividends Goal 2: $2,000+ per month.
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