Dividend Income Calculator
Enter a starting investment, a dividend yield, and how you expect the dividend and the share price to grow. This projects the dividend income and portfolio value for every year, with or without reinvestment, up to 50 years out. Free, no signup.
What this assumes
Illustrative only, not a forecast. The dividend yield, the dividend growth rate, the price growth rate, and the contribution are held constant for every year, which no real holding does. No taxes are modeled: qualified dividend tax is a separate step, covered in the qualified vs ordinary dividends post. Not investment or tax advice.
Your projection
Projected income after 20 years
Year 1 dividend income
$1,750.00
Final-year dividend income
$35,678.93
$8,919.73 per quarter by year 20.
Ending portfolio value
$463,293.96
Where the ending value came from
Split between what was put in, what price growth added on top of that, and what reinvested dividends and their own growth contributed.
| Source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Contributed | $50,000.00 |
| From price growth | $110,356.80 |
| From reinvested dividends | $302,937.16 |
| Ending portfolio value | $463,293.96 |
Year by year
Cumulative dividends are every dollar of dividend income earned to date, whether or not it was reinvested. The last column is the share of that year’s ending value that would not exist without reinvestment.
| Year | Portfolio value | Dividend income | Cumulative dividends | From reinvestment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $54,750 | $1,750.00 | $1,750.00 | 3.2% |
| 2 | $60,047 | $2,012.06 | $3,762.06 | 6.44% |
| 3 | $65,967 | $2,317.07 | $6,079.13 | 9.73% |
| 4 | $72,598 | $2,672.77 | $8,751.90 | 13.05% |
| 5 | $80,042 | $3,088.51 | $11,840.41 | 16.4% |
| 6 | $88,420 | $3,575.47 | $15,415.88 | 19.79% |
| 7 | $97,873 | $4,147.20 | $19,563.08 | 23.18% |
| 8 | $108,565 | $4,820.08 | $24,383.16 | 26.59% |
| 9 | $120,693 | $5,614.00 | $29,997.16 | 30.01% |
| 10 | $134,488 | $6,553.20 | $36,550.36 | 33.42% |
| 11 | $150,224 | $7,667.32 | $44,217.68 | 36.82% |
| 12 | $168,230 | $8,992.70 | $53,210.38 | 40.2% |
| 13 | $188,898 | $10,574.11 | $63,784.49 | 43.54% |
| 14 | $212,699 | $12,466.86 | $76,251.35 | 46.85% |
| 15 | $240,201 | $14,739.53 | $90,990.88 | 50.11% |
| 16 | $272,090 | $17,477.59 | $108,468.47 | 53.32% |
| 17 | $309,203 | $20,787.85 | $129,256.32 | 56.46% |
| 18 | $352,560 | $24,804.49 | $154,060.81 | 59.52% |
| 19 | $403,410 | $29,696.73 | $183,757.54 | 62.5% |
| 20 | $463,294 | $35,678.93 | $219,436.47 | 65.39% |
The part a projection cannot do
This page projects one hypothetical holding from assumptions typed in. The harder question is what your actual dividend income looks like today, across every account, and which of your positions are concentrated in the yield they pay. Helm reads the holdings in the accounts you connect, read-only, and shows the real income your book produces. It cannot see accounts you have not connected.
See your own dividend incomeHow the projection compounds
Each year works in a fixed order. Any contribution is added to the portfolio first. That year’s dividend income is the dividend yield times the resulting value, and the yield itself compounds by the dividend growth rate every year, separately from the share price. Price growth is then applied to the value. If reinvestment is on, the dividend is added back to the portfolio at year end; if it is off, the dividend is paid out and never adds to portfolio value again.
The dividend growth rate and the price growth rate are two different assumptions on purpose. A holding’s dividend can rise faster or slower than its price, and the gap between the two is a real driver of how much of the ending value comes from income versus appreciation.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate dividend income?
Multiply the dividend yield by the value of the position. A $50,000 position yielding 3 percent pays about $1,500 over the year. The figure moves every year because both the yield the position pays and the value it is paid on change: the yield if the dividend grows, and the value with price moves, contributions, and reinvestment.
Does dividend reinvestment actually make a meaningful difference?
Yes, and the gap compounds. Reinvesting buys more shares, which pay their own dividends the following year, which buy still more shares. Over a decade or longer at a typical yield, a meaningful share of the ending value comes from that compounding rather than from the original investment or its price appreciation alone.
What is a realistic dividend growth rate to use?
That depends entirely on the holding, and this tool has no view on it. A single stock with a history of raising its payout, a broad index fund, and a high-yield fund with a flat or declining payout are three different assumptions. Enter a rate based on the specific holding’s own dividend history, not a market-wide average.
Why does yield on cost make dividend growth look better than it is?
Yield on cost divides the current dividend by the price paid years ago, so it rises every time the dividend is raised, even if the stock has done nothing else. It is not the return being earned today. The current yield, which is the dividend divided by today’s value, is what this calculator uses for the income figure.
Does this calculator account for taxes on dividends?
No. Dividend income here is pre-tax. Qualified dividends are taxed at the same 0, 15, and 20 percent federal rates as long-term capital gains, while ordinary (non-qualified) dividends are taxed as ordinary income; which applies depends on the holding period and the type of payer. That is a separate calculation from the projection this tool runs.
What does this calculator not account for?
It holds the yield, dividend growth rate, price growth rate, and contribution constant for every year entered, which real holdings never do. It does not model taxes, fees, dividend cuts, or a variable contribution schedule. It is a projection built from the assumptions entered, not a forecast.
Related reading
Illustrative only, not a forecast and not advice. Yield, growth, and contributions are held constant for every year entered, which no real holding does, and no taxes are modeled.