{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Dataset",
  "name": "How much money do you need to live off dividends?",
  "description": "Living off dividends takes roughly 25–33× your annual spending. At a 3.5% portfolio yield, $60,000 a year of expenses needs about $1.7M invested; at a more conservative 3% yield it needs $2.0M.",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/answers/how-much-money-do-you-need-to-live-off-dividends",
  "dateModified": "2026-08-12",
  "creator": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "RevenueLab",
    "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi"
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "keywords": [
    "Dividend Income Calculator",
    "FIRE Number Calculator",
    "Compound Interest Calculator"
  ],
  "distribution": {
    "@type": "DataDownload",
    "contentUrl": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/page.json?path=answers%2Fhow-much-money-do-you-need-to-live-off-dividends",
    "encodingFormat": "application/json"
  },
  "json": {
    "type": "answer",
    "question": "How much money do you need to live off dividends?",
    "shortAnswer": "Living off dividends takes roughly 25–33× your annual spending. At a 3.5% portfolio yield, $60,000 a year of expenses needs about $1.7M invested; at a more conservative 3% yield it needs $2.0M.",
    "tableTitle": "Portfolio required by spending and yield",
    "columns": [
      "Annual spending",
      "At 3% yield",
      "At 4% yield"
    ],
    "rows": [
      {
        "label": "$30,000",
        "value": "$1,000,000",
        "note": "$750,000"
      },
      {
        "label": "$45,000",
        "value": "$1,500,000",
        "note": "$1,125,000"
      },
      {
        "label": "$60,000",
        "value": "$2,000,000",
        "note": "$1,500,000"
      },
      {
        "label": "$90,000",
        "value": "$3,000,000",
        "note": "$2,250,000"
      },
      {
        "label": "$120,000",
        "value": "$4,000,000",
        "note": "$3,000,000"
      }
    ],
    "context": "Chasing yield is the standard mistake. Moving from a 2% broad-market yield to a 6% high-yield portfolio appears to cut the required capital by two thirds, but the assets producing that yield usually carry higher default, concentration or payout-cut risk, and dividends are not contractually guaranteed. Total-return withdrawal strategies, where you sell a small share of appreciated holdings alongside collecting dividends, generally survive worse markets than a yield-maximising portfolio. Taxes matter too: qualified dividends in a taxable account still reduce spendable income.",
    "methodology": "Required capital equals annual spending divided by portfolio yield, shown across common yield assumptions and cross-checked against safe-withdrawal-rate literature.",
    "dateModified": "2026-08-12",
    "relatedCalculators": [
      {
        "label": "Dividend Income Calculator",
        "to": "/dividend-income-calculator"
      },
      {
        "label": "FIRE Number Calculator",
        "to": "/fire-number-calculator"
      },
      {
        "label": "Compound Interest Calculator",
        "to": "/compound-interest-calculator"
      }
    ],
    "relatedReading": []
  }
}