How a dividend portfolio's income stream grows — especially when every payout buys more shares that pay more dividends.
How fast payouts per share rise. Dividend-growth stalwarts have historically managed 5–8%/yr.
This dividend calculator projects the growing income stream from a dividend portfolio, modeling both rising payouts and reinvestment. When dividends buy more shares, those shares pay more dividends — a compounding loop that accelerates income over decades.
The calculator grows your portfolio's dividend income by your assumed dividend-growth rate, and when reinvestment (DRIP) is on, each payout buys more shares that pay their own dividends. That compounding loop is what accelerates income over decades. Yield on cost — annual dividends divided by your original investment — climbs over time even if the current yield stays flat.
Instead of taking dividends as cash, you use them to buy more shares automatically. Those extra shares pay their own dividends, compounding your income.
Yield is annual dividends divided by share price. A 3% yield means $3 of dividends per year for every $100 invested, before any growth.
It depends on the yield, the dividend growth rate, and whether you reinvest. Reinvesting plus steady dividend hikes can grow income far faster than either alone.
Yield on cost is annual dividends divided by what you originally paid, not the current price. As payouts grow, yield on cost rises, which is why long-held dividend growers can pay double-digit yields on the original cost.
Reinvesting compounds your income fastest during the accumulation years. Taking the cash makes sense once you need the income to live on. The calculator shows both paths side by side.
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