Just two months left of the year and I don’t think I’ll be reaching my goal of $50,000 unless I get creative and sell some individual shares to buy more ETFs!
The good thing is that I’m still in the running to achieve my dividend goal of $2,000 for the year! It’s the dividend goals that I get most excited about as they’re the things that bring me true happiness as they allow for freedom. Freedom is what it’s all about.
Some people say that money can’t buy happiness but they’ve obviously never bought dividend paying stocks and ETFs!
ETF Dividend Payments in October
October was the monthlies and the quarterlies so I was hoping for a $200+ dividend payment and that’s what I got.
JPEQ paid out $45.53, FEPI distributed $44.29, MSTY paid out $12.64, HYLD sent out $1.31, SCHD payment came in at $16.63, IVV coughed up $11.75, VHY with $63.62, VGS chipped in $8.12, and QQQI gave me $31.80, which is a total of $235.69 for the month of October.
If you’ve been to the ETF Portfolio main page you’ll know that my BIG goal for 2025 is to make more than $2,000 in dividends. I have made $1,751.84 so far with two months left which means I have to make an average of about $125 per month. I believe I can do that. It’ll only be the monthlies paying dividends, so they will be lower payments but I’m pretty confident. I might even receive my SCHD payment in December which will help, it just depends on when my broker releases the payment (they’re very slow with international dividends).
This time last year the portfolio made $126.98 in dividends for the month of October which is a 85% increase YoY (year on year).
The rolling 6 month, monthly dividend payment was $190.76 last month. It has decreased by $3.93 per month to $186.83. I really don’t like seeing this number go down so I’m going to try much harder to not let this happen again. I could make excuses but I’m not going to, I’m just going to make sure I do better.
The ETF Dividend Portfolio for October
This month the ETF dividend portfolio has increased to $34,523 up from $33,027 in September which is an increase of about $1,496. New contributions were $1,010.58 and I sold MSTY for $290.08 which means I’ve really only added $720.50 in new funds. So the market has helped out with about $776 of the increase.
I added my new “usual” 1 share of JEPQ (listed as JPEQ in Australia) while I continue to watch it closely. Instead I’ve been adding more to QQQI with $254.29. I’ve also added to FEPI for the first time in about a year with $287.54, HYLD got $187.68, I bought $153.75 worth of VGS, and I added $63.71 ATEC (Australian technology ETF).
And yes, I sold the horrible MSTY. A high dividend yield doesn’t make up for a 50% decrease in value. I’m just glad I didn’t put much money into it and the dividends did cushion the loss. Lesson well and truly learned though.
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 September 2025…
I Forgot to take a screenshot of the ETF portfolio at the end of the month so pay no attention to the market value. I simple changed the number of shares to reflect the buys I did in October. Oh and I crossed out MSTY as I sold that god damned thing.. and good riddance to it. May I never be tempted by another YieldMax ETF again!!
See the ETF Dividend Portfolio from September.
What to Expect in November
I’ll be sticking to the monthly paying ETFs only as I want to ensure that I reach my $2,000 dividend goal for 2025. I should reach my goal with the shares that I currently own but it can’t hurt to add more just to be sure.
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 October
Total Index Funds portfolio value (VHY, VGS, GEAR, JPEQ, FEPI, QQQI, SCHD, NDQ, ATEC, HYLD and IVV): $34,523 up from $33,027.
Most recent dividend payment (October): $235.69 up from $133.51 in September (Monthly and quarterly dividends from VHY, IVV, VGS, SCHD, JPEQ, MSTY, FEPI, HYLD, and QQQI)
Dividends paid in October 2024: $126.98 which is a 85% Increase YoY (Year on Year)
6 Month Dividends Monthly Average: $186.83 down from $190.76 last month
Dividends paid in 2025 so far: $1,751.84 (this time last year it was $556.87)
Dividends paid in 2024: $725.85
All dividends paid in 2023: $102.68
All ETF dividend payments since starting the ETF portfolio: $2,376.57
ETF Dividends Goal 1: $2,000+ per year.
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