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$93,917 for 2015. I was lucky enough to be born with gifts that make me good at writing code. I trade that coding ability for money. I invest that money in the

$93,917 for 2015. I was lucky enough to be born with gifts that make me good at writing code. I trade that coding ability for money. I invest that money in the S&P 500 (ticker VOO). I've been doing this for decades and have invested about $1,173,971 to date. The trailing 10 year return is about 8% per year. So let's call it $93,917. $93,917 of passive income.

kohanz 11y ago
Well done! Would you be willing to comment on what % of your income you invest each year (on average)? Also, have you suffered a "passive loss" in some years?
- mywittyname 11y ago
  If all of his investments are in VOO as he claims, then he would have suffered several yearly losses. Some people only count only dividends as income. In this case, there would be no "passive loss", but the total income would only be ~2-3% pa instead of ~8% pa average.
  - Someone1234 11y ago
    Indeed. When people talk about how well their investments are doing they should utilise a ten year yearly average (or longer). I bet that $93K figure doesn't include the years where they LOSE money, but a ten year yearly average would (e.g. making it 80K or similar). And as you said they definitely lost money during the recession if they're seeing 8% now. There's no way they're just doing that from bonds or dividends alone.
    - SyneRyder 11y ago
      You could get 8% from dividends if you're specifically hunting for dividend stocks, buying individual stocks, and only buy when they're at that level. The Australian stock market has had lots of opportunities like that over the years, where major brands have had falls that briefly made them terrific bargains. But it would have to be your specific strategy.
      - Someone1234 11y ago
        I just don't run across them very often (ever?) at that level. I think 5% is extremely good for a dividend. Do you have an example of an 8% dividend stock?
        SyneRyder 11y ago
        If you want 5% dividends in Australia, that's easy - Telstra (TLS.AX) is regularly at levels where you'll get a 5% dividend. Right now you'd get 5.8%. Motley Fool mentioned it a couple of months ago as well, and if you can make use of Franking Credits you'll get even more value out of it [1]. If you've got E-Trade, go into Quotes & Research -> Tools -> Basic Stock Filter and search by Yield > 8%. Today there's 66 results. Of course, you need to do your research: Dick Smith Electronics is supposedly offering 33.5% yield, but they've just gone bankrupt. Slater And Gordon at 13.95% yield have been hugely impacted by UK Regulatory changes in recent months. You might look closer at BHP Billiton: (BHP.AX, 9.95%). One of the world's biggest mining operations, and the shares have tanked post-mining-boom. Surely they'll have to cut their dividend, but even if it was halved, it would still hit your 5% extremely-good-dividend level. Other names I recognize are Seven West Media (SWM.AX, 10.44%) who own newspapers & television stations, but also have part-ownership of Netflix competitor Presto that is preloaded on Samsung televisions. Beyond International (BYI.AX, 9.09%) produce television shows like Mythbusters, and have had steadily increasing dividends over the years. Anyway, that's the approach I've taken: it's usually about buying into well known companies that pay dividends that steadily grow over the years, at times when the share price has been hit so hard that the dividend yields become huge. [1] http://www.fool.com.au/2015/12/04/todays-telstra-share-price-is-offering-a-5-8-fully-franked-yield/?source=aptyholnk3030003# http://www.fool.com.au/2015/12/04/todays-telstra-share-price...

kohanz 11y ago

Well done! Would you be willing to comment on what % of your income you invest each year (on average)? Also, have you suffered a "passive loss" in some years?

mywittyname 11y ago
If all of his investments are in VOO as he claims, then he would have suffered several yearly losses. Some people only count only dividends as income. In this case, there would be no "passive loss", but the total income would only be ~2-3% pa instead of ~8% pa average.
- Someone1234 11y ago
  Indeed. When people talk about how well their investments are doing they should utilise a ten year yearly average (or longer). I bet that $93K figure doesn't include the years where they LOSE money, but a ten year yearly average would (e.g. making it 80K or similar). And as you said they definitely lost money during the recession if they're seeing 8% now. There's no way they're just doing that from bonds or dividends alone.
  - SyneRyder 11y ago
    You could get 8% from dividends if you're specifically hunting for dividend stocks, buying individual stocks, and only buy when they're at that level. The Australian stock market has had lots of opportunities like that over the years, where major brands have had falls that briefly made them terrific bargains. But it would have to be your specific strategy.
    - Someone1234 11y ago
      I just don't run across them very often (ever?) at that level. I think 5% is extremely good for a dividend. Do you have an example of an 8% dividend stock?
      - SyneRyder 11y ago
        If you want 5% dividends in Australia, that's easy - Telstra (TLS.AX) is regularly at levels where you'll get a 5% dividend. Right now you'd get 5.8%. Motley Fool mentioned it a couple of months ago as well, and if you can make use of Franking Credits you'll get even more value out of it [1]. If you've got E-Trade, go into Quotes & Research -> Tools -> Basic Stock Filter and search by Yield > 8%. Today there's 66 results. Of course, you need to do your research: Dick Smith Electronics is supposedly offering 33.5% yield, but they've just gone bankrupt. Slater And Gordon at 13.95% yield have been hugely impacted by UK Regulatory changes in recent months. You might look closer at BHP Billiton: (BHP.AX, 9.95%). One of the world's biggest mining operations, and the shares have tanked post-mining-boom. Surely they'll have to cut their dividend, but even if it was halved, it would still hit your 5% extremely-good-dividend level. Other names I recognize are Seven West Media (SWM.AX, 10.44%) who own newspapers & television stations, but also have part-ownership of Netflix competitor Presto that is preloaded on Samsung televisions. Beyond International (BYI.AX, 9.09%) produce television shows like Mythbusters, and have had steadily increasing dividends over the years. Anyway, that's the approach I've taken: it's usually about buying into well known companies that pay dividends that steadily grow over the years, at times when the share price has been hit so hard that the dividend yields become huge. [1] http://www.fool.com.au/2015/12/04/todays-telstra-share-price-is-offering-a-5-8-fully-franked-yield/?source=aptyholnk3030003# http://www.fool.com.au/2015/12/04/todays-telstra-share-price...