Posted: 5/1/2026 1:09:47 PM EDT
| Trying to get kids hooked on investing. Oldest 13 youngest 9. They all have about 1k in their accounts. The dividends get their attention more than growth. So I’m thinking of shifting a few hundred into monthly dividend payers. Jepi, O, and main come to mind. Any better options. This is for teaching more than total returns. |
| I'd look for stocks in companies they may be interested in today as well as into their teens. Google, Apple, Nintendo, Sony. Then they can see how those stocks do throughout the year like when a new iphone comes out or nintendo re-re-re-re-releases mario kart on a new system. |
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OP, so far, no one has answered your question. I will mention several monthly dividend payers that I now own. Do your own D/D I am not an advisor but I have been doing this for 39 years and retired at 57. I agree that getting kids involved early and often is a great thing. These pay monthly. FAGIX Recent NAV 11.34 last div. .0379 PIMIX Recent NAV 10.82 last div .0481 FRHIX Recent NAV 8.90 last div. .0328 JEPI Recent NAV 58.86 last div. .4476 JEPQ Recent NAV 58.86 last div. .591 O 63.81 .2705 CRF 7.24 .1176 Another dividend fund I like is DVY it holds the top 100 DOW dividend payers. Your kids will recognize some of the top holdings, Pfizer, Verizon, General Mills, and HP if they are old enough. DVY pays quarterly. Trading at 154 this afternoon. Last dividend was 1.49 in March. Be prepared to hear what a dumbass you are to be a dividend investor but I like making money even when the broader market is down. You will miss out on growth, but that's why you diversify. I hope this helps the kids get interested. I let my kids watch me put in orders and let them press the buy button when they were little. |
| The way I am reading your post the plan is to shift only a percentage into monthly dividend paying funds. This won’t hurt much and might possibly even outperform the rest when the inevitable bear market strikes. Having examples of several investment philosophies could make for a good learning environment. |
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Realize many dividend focused ETF's have a higher risk associated with them. If that is acceptable, check into QQQI or SPYI. Dividends paid monthly. Although expense ratio is on the upper end at 0.68%. So far, have not suffered from NAV erosion. On the subject of NAV erosion...stay away from YieldMax ETF's like MSTY, etc. if you're in it for the long term. Regarding QQQI or SPYI, if a taxable account, the majority of the distribution is designated as "Return of Capital" so not immediately taxable as a dividend. It adjusts the cost basis. Also the taxable portion of the distribution (i.e. dividend) falls under IRS Section 1256 (60/40 rule). Note, go to the issuer's website to view the distribution information. For the actual ROC refer to the issuer's 2025 IRS Form 8937, not the regulatory 19a-1 Notices. |
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While it’s “fun” to receive dividends, at least when young one should be focused on growth vs. dividends. If you invest enough in growth stocks you will have enough to never need to worry about investing in dividend/income stocks. IOW, there’s not a compelling reason to invest for dividends/income unless you need current income. Additionally, dividends are taxed as ordinary income whereas capital gains are not taxed until/unless you sell and at more favorable rates. One strategy would be to just let the kids pick stocks they are interested in. You never know, they just might discover the next Netflix, Snapchat, etc. |
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It’s not about how many people you kill, it’s about how many you save.
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Originally Posted By 1P29: Realize many dividend focused ETF's have a higher risk associated with them. If that is acceptable, check into QQQI or SPYI. Dividends paid monthly. Although expense ratio is on the upper end at 0.68%. So far, have not suffered from NAV erosion. On the subject of NAV erosion...stay away from YieldMax ETF's like MSTY, etc. if you're in it for the long term. Regarding QQQI or SPYI, if a taxable account, the majority of the distribution is designated as "Return of Capital" so not immediately taxable as a dividend. It adjusts the cost basis. Also the taxable portion of the distribution (i.e. dividend) falls under IRS Section 1256 (60/40 rule). Note, go to the issuer's website to view the distribution information. For the actual ROC refer to the issuer's 2025 IRS Form 8937, not the regulatory 19a-1 Notices. I have a basket of divi payers that are maybe 20% of my portfolio. I like QQQI. You can go ultra conservative with something like PYLD too if you want. WRT to Yieldmax, which pays a weekly dividend, I started putting a small % in them almost two years ago despite the numerous predictions of DOOOOOM on here for them, and continued buying up through early last year. Yes, they do reverse splits, and yes, the underlying equity can erode. But, overall, that basket has returned around 25% - (dividends + current value - original cost basis)/original cost basis. Of the six I invested in, NVDY, TSLY and AMZY have been the stars. NVDY has now returned 86% of my initial investment, and will top 100% sometime this year. TSLY has returned 89% of my initial investment, despite a 5:1 reverse split, and will also go over 100% this year. I got into AMZY much later, but it has returned 68% of the original investment. It will be close to 100% by year's end. MSTY has been a mess, it pays big when BTC is up, not so much when it's down, and had a reverse split. AIYY has been crummy, and ULTY has been meh, both with reverse splits. Annualized yield on the three stars has been 46%, 49% and 39%, respectively, over the time periods I've been in them. For a kid learning about money with amounts that don't really matter in the long term, they are good ones to play with. The Yieldmax funds might get them interested in calls, puts, and the deeper math behind some of the strategies there, which is never a bad thing. However, you should buy at least 20 or so shares of each so that a reverse split doesn't wipe you. NVDY and AMZY have not reverse split since I have been in. |
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How do taxes work with minors earning dividends? I assume the parents are claiming the kids for deductions. So you have to report their 1099s? The kids would have to earn a lot to file separately to offset your deduction so any earnings are canceled out? Hmmm? |
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My mistake, I somehow overlooked the monthly part. SPYI and QQQI come to mind, but if they’re reinvesting dividends*, be aware that it’s just underperforming the underlying asset most of time. SGOV and VGLT pay monthly, from ultra-short term treasuries, and long term ones, respectively. About 3.5% and 5% ish. But the CAGR is very low. *they’re not actually dividends, but the distributions look like them, more or less. |
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Originally Posted By rvbrewer625: Trying to get kids hooked on investing. Oldest 13 youngest 9. They all have about 1k in their accounts. The dividends get their attention more than growth. So I’m thinking of shifting a few hundred into monthly dividend payers. Jepi, O, and main come to mind. Any better options. This is for teaching more than total returns. If this is for teaching then I think funds/stocks like JEPI and O would be pointless. I'd look at a list of "Dividend Aristocrat" stocks and pick out some names that they are going to be able to relate to. https://seekingalpha.com/etfs-and-funds/etf-tables/dividend_aristocrats Not necessarily a monthly option but more likely to engage them in terms of understanding what exactly they are buying. |
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Not super sexy but ticker DNP is under $11, so more shares on the buy and more shares on the DRIP. Pre-covid it was around $13+, dropped to $6 on the shutdown, bounced to $9 when normal returned and has been clawing its way back up to $10.50 over the last three years. One upside, dividends pay Monthly. Its not the rock-star JPEQ and the other covered call ETF's; but something different that fits into a $1000 budget easier. As far as I can recall, the dividends are qualified, so lower taxes. |
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I wouldn’t worry so much about monthly dividends, but look to stocks in the dividend arisocrats list. They consistently pay out dividends, and typically increase them every year for at least 25 years, One stock that is kind of fun from a dividend perspective is att (t) they used to be an aristocrat but canceled or reduced the dividend a few years back for a short time. The stock price hovers around 24-27$ and pays out a decent $.2775 dividend per share every quarter. So if you reinvest the dividends, and have about 100 shares - you’re getting around or more than a full share every quarter. So your share quantity will start to rise pretty quickly. I wouldn’t say att is a great investment for growth, but let it cook for a few years and the gains will be exponential. |
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You could also make a list of stocks that you think will have a good CAGR, then look at the dividend dates for them on dividend dot com, and choose 3 or more that pay quarterly in different months. SGOV gives both a monthly “dividend”, and a clear lesson on where they come from. I must say, I find this exercise odd. I wouldn’t have expected kids to care whether total account growth comes from dividends or share price appreciation, or both, as long as the total number or portfolio chart goes up. |
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Originally Posted By 1168RGR: I must say, I find this exercise odd. I wouldn’t have expected kids to care whether total account growth comes from dividends or share price appreciation, or both, as long as the total number or portfolio chart goes up. At such a young age I would focus on basics - money doesn't grow on trees and saving is a thing they should do. Details such as dividends vs growth, compounding interest, etc. seem way too into the weeds at such a young age. Investing for retirement is a long-term thing, so focusing on short term results might even be detrimental. Youngest kid is 15, I opened a UTMA account for her years ago and she randomly gives me money to put into it because she understands saving is important. The account is in an sp500 index fund. Just yesterday she asked about it and was shocked that the balance was $4500. She was even more shocked when I showed her that she has only put in $3500 and has made almost $1k of "free money". |
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I think aggressive growth is the most important thing for young investors. If I had a kid I'd have them dollar cost averaging 70% into the MAG7, or QQQM, or VGT and 20% bitcoin. Remaining 10% would be cash in a high yield savings account. During market down turns I'd dump that cash savings into my investments. I wouldn't even consider diversion from this until I had a 200K account minimum. Preferably 500K. Depending on age & income would be comfortable maintaining this until I had a 1M portfolio. If you aren't comfortable with this and must earn a dividend. I think the S&P 500 and SCHD pair very well together. Enough to where I think it would be fine to have them in a 2 fund portfolio. I'll be retiring young. Aggressive concentration at a young age can literally fast forward your retirement horizon by 25-30 years. Knowing what I know now I'd question the strategy of anyone who needs a job to live/pay bills by the time they are 40-45 years old. Any work done pass that point should be elective/ because you want to. |
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PCN and PTY have been pretty consistent for me thru the years. They've been paying average about 9% per year. They even paid through 2008 mess and coof times pretty consistently, even if it was a bit lower (5% or so if I remember back in 2021 -22) Inception date 2001 so not like they are new. Here's a few others that I have QDTE NVDY FEPI MPLX SUN EFC |
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