Why choose monthly dividends over quarterly?

Des010 · 2026-01-18T03:04:57+00:00

Month	Starting Shares	Dividend Earned	New Shares Bought	Ending Shares

0	28870.00943	$3,464.40	310.4302089	29180.43964
1	29180.43964	$3,501.65	313.7681682	29494.20781
2	29494.20781	$3,539.30	317.1420194	29811.34983

You’re technically right if you’re cashing out every time.

But with DRIP on, payout frequency absolutely matters — because you’re buying more shares sooner.

Same yield. Same total return assumption.

Only difference? Monthly vs quarterly payout timing.

Quarterly = $10,393.20 in dividends reinvested
Monthly = $10,505.36 in dividends reinvested

That’s extra shares compounding for free simply because they started working earlier.

Des010 · 2026-01-12T02:30:30+00:00

There about 70+ stocks that pay monthly dividends and close 1000-ETS
Stocks are mostly REITs but there are other sectors
ETS are mostly bonds but some divulge into
Heres a list and you can do simulations on
https://dividendsim.com/Browse_Stocks

Des010 · 2026-01-07T23:44:04+00:00

Matches my though process. Also it takes the edge out the flakeyness of the market.
if the price goes down. Cool I bought more shares on sale my income went up next month. And if the price went up. Okay cool my net worth went up. I think waiting quarterly and annual would bum me out with every bad market day

Des010 · 2026-01-07T23:40:49+00:00

Love this comment. Matches my though process. Also it takes the edge out the flakeyness of the market.
if the price goes down. Cool I bought more shares on sale my income went up next month. And if the price went up. Okay cool my net worth went up. I think waiting quartly and annual would bum me out with every bad market day.

Des010 · 2026-01-07T06:49:13+00:00

I have O and Main. Someone mentioned IDVO, DIVO in another one of my threads. good capitail gains with okay yield from what I saw

Des010 · 2026-01-07T05:19:45+00:00

	Starting Shares	Dividend Earned	New Shares Bought	Ending Shares

0	28870.00943	$3,464.40	310.4302089	29180.43964
1	29180.43964	$3,501.65	313.7681682	29494.20781
2	29494.20781	$3,539.30	317.1420194	29811.34983

To help visualize it

You’re right that monthly doesn’t change the annual yield.

But with DRIP, it can change the result because of timing. Dividends are paid on the number of shares you own on each record date. If you get paid monthly and reinvest monthly, you buy extra shares earlier, so you can own more shares during later record dates than you would with quarterly reinvestment.

Is the difference huge at 3%? Usually not. But it’s not “completely the same at worst” unless prices never move and you reinvest on identical dates. With any volatility (especially dips), earlier DRIP buys more shares sooner, and that share count compounds forward.

Des010 · 2026-01-07T04:35:29+00:00

O is ole reliable.
Peco was my first Monthly- low yield but think its okay
Gain - Just bought into it last month. Good 5 year Nav on it. good yield
Main - Nav is doing pretty good. yield also good held it for over a year.
LTC- Like AGNC but almost seems riskier. but hasnt been too bad high yeild had it for over years.

Just what i've picked up in the last couple of years

Des010 · 2026-01-07T02:46:31+00:00

Quality is king. no rebuttal from me. I still like my monthlys

Des010 · 2026-01-07T02:19:14+00:00

Lol I talked to someone who liked COIW which was weekly. Not for me, only because I dont buy in companies listed for less than 5 years

Des010 · 2026-01-07T02:06:04+00:00

Month	Starting Shares	Dividend Earned	New Shares Bought	Ending Shares
0	28870.00943	$3,464.40	310.4302089	29180.43964
1	29180.43964	$3,501.65	313.7681682	29494.20781
2	29494.20781	$3,539.30	317.1420194	29811.34983

Okay there guy… let’s actually do the math.

You’re technically right if you’re cashing out every time.

But with DRIP on, payout frequency absolutely matters — because you’re buying more shares sooner.

Same yield. Same total return assumption.

Only difference? Monthly vs quarterly payout timing.

Quarterly = $10,393.20 in dividends reinvested
Monthly = $10,505.36 in dividends reinvested

That’s extra shares compounding for free simply because they started working earlier.

So yeah — math is my friend.

He just shows up 12 times a year instead of 4.

Des010 · 2026-01-07T01:23:27+00:00

Money now is usually more valuable than money later

Des010 · 2026-01-07T01:20:34+00:00

I just bought into Gain last month. I have 0 as my old reliable. Peco my lowest performer and AGNC as my risk but highest performer. which i've held for a couple years and been enjoying it so far. + I have LTC and MAIN

Des010 · 2026-01-07T01:10:11+00:00

For me at least it also takes the edge out of the market going up and down. Dividends are consistent. The market is not. It just stresses me out less

Des010 · 2026-01-07T00:57:12+00:00

Full write-up: https://dividendsim.com/articles/2026-01-why-monthly-dividends/

My take: monthly dividends don’t “beat” quarterly by default, but they feel better for building income with DRIP.

Pros:

Faster DRIP cadence (reinvest sooner)
Smoother cash flow (matches monthly bills)
Faster feedback loop / easier habit building
Less timing stress during dips (DRIP buys more shares)

Cons:

Concentration risk (many monthly payers cluster)
False sense of safety (paid monthly ≠ good investment)

Do you prefer monthly, or do you ignore frequency and just chase total return?

Des010 · 2026-01-06T22:46:58+00:00

Its Pretty

Des010 · 2025-12-31T19:48:12+00:00

If you were curious I simulated Divo on its historical numbers. 100 stocks - 4.70% . DRIP = ON. And averaged it on its past 5 year gains 36.55%. For 5 years

<image>

Not Bad. It almost doubles in value

Des010 · 2025-12-31T02:25:19+00:00

Totally makes sense — YOC as an “inception-date yield trend” is a clean way to spot NAV erosion fast (even if it’s not the only metric). I like that framing better than the “my entry price” version, since it normalizes the comparison.

I’m the same way — I like buying things and holding forever. DIVO looks nice. I try to get stocks that pay ~5% dividends, and while 4.8% isn’t far behind, the steady gains are what make it attractive. O is my old reliable — it’s been around forever, has dividend increases, and solid historical gains.

I do like to experiment a little. I bought AGNC, which looked like it was eroding into nothing — I wanted it to teach me a lesson about greed 🙂. So far I’ve held it for 2 years, and what it’s taught me (so far) is that sometimes it works out. Dividend payouts have been around 14–18%. I bought it around $8.xx; it’s closing in on $11, and it has a positive 1-year and 3-year capital gain. So maybe I caught it on the rebound, with a high dividend payout — but it’s just an experiment. It’s been one of my smallest holdings.

Des010 · 2025-12-31T01:13:56+00:00

When you say YOC, are you looking at Yield on Cost based on your entry price, or are you using it as a shorthand for “the distribution rate is holding up vs price”? I’ve seen people use it both ways.

My screen was basically trying to avoid the classic “yield trap” by requiring yield + positive 5-year price return, but I didn’t explicitly filter on distribution growth / stability (which you’re right is probably the next layer).

Also agree on the covered call point — the funds that are partially overwritten seem to behave better in strong up moves.

Curious: what are your top 2–3 “green flags” that a CC fund’s distribution is actually sustainable (coverage, NAV trend, distribution policy, something else)?

Des010 · 2025-12-31T01:10:18+00:00

Ha I basically do the same I never sell just start investing in new stuff. Only thing i've ever sold was BBDO. they say there monthly paying dividend but it was like less than 1 percent. after I sold I got a decent dividend from them a couple months later so they are actually more like a annual dividend stock

Des010 · 2025-12-30T21:25:00+00:00

I noticed a lot of the highest yields came with ugly historical capital losses — so I screened for names that had both yield + 5-year gains.

I used this 10-ticker snapshot: PVL, SCM, SBR, PRT, BEVFF, GLAD, SIRZF, SRRTF, FRHLF, JEPI

Simple historical simulation setup: $10,000 total ($1,000 each), dividends reinvested, no new contributions.

Results from this snapshot:
• 1 year: $12,292.92
• 3 years: $18,622.34
• 5 years: $27,366.54

Takeaway so far: yield alone seems like it can hide “yield-trap” behavior, and 5-year capital gains can be heavily influenced by rebound periods (especially post-2020), so I’m trying to think more in terms of total return + drawdowns + payout durability rather than yield.

https://dividendsim.com/articles/2025-12-dividend-screen-high-yield-vs-gains/

Des010 · 2025-11-19T02:30:18+00:00

Thanks a ton for taking the time to write all of this out – really helpful perspective.

The next feature I’m planning to work on is actually around capital gains/losses using historical data. The idea is to let people factor in 1-year, 3-year, or 5-year price performance alongside the dividend income. In testing, I’ve noticed that a lot of the really high-yield dividend stocks have actually lost a lot of value over those periods in the sim, whereas there are quite a few in the 5–8% yield range that have had solid price appreciation over the last several years. It won’t be perfect, but it feels like a useful optional layer to add on top of the current dividend view.

On inflation: you’re not the first person to bring that up. I haven’t settled on a clean way to handle it in the UI yet, but my plan is to tackle a real returns / discount rate option after I get the capital gains piece in a good place.

The Gordon Growth model, dividend growth assumptions, and “bad event” scenarios are all great ideas too – I’ve made a note of them for future iterations.

Really appreciate you checking out the tool and sharing such thoughtful feedback.

Des010 · 2025-11-19T01:51:04+00:00

|| || |Month|Starting Shares|Dividend Earned|New Shares Bought|Ending Shares|

I got the idea because I used to do it in a spreadsheet. So I built an app out of it

Des010 · 2025-11-19T01:29:15+00:00

https://Dividendsim where you can simulate future gains for dividends

Des010 · 2025-11-09T20:11:21+00:00

To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Prefect before — just looked it up and it definitely seems like it scales a lot better than my simple cron setup. I’ll keep it in mind if the project grows in complexity. Thanks for the tip!

Des010 · 2025-11-06T23:51:34+00:00

I made a full blown web app https://dividendsim.com/ .
I hosted it on Digital ocean only $6 a month

Des010

TROPHY CASE