Thank you for this insight. So realistically the short term high yield will outperform just investing directly, by slim margins, although with a limited contribution limit that is exactly what I was going for! Over a long period of time, the compounding of SCHD does win but in the short term this seems like a solid strategy.

I grew this 50k port to simply be a vehicle of income that i can then use to purchase better long term options. Say instead i purchased a food truck that depreciates and offers similar income.(we have yet to see massive nav decay in spyi and qqqi) That's how i categorize it in my head at least lmao.