Dividend ETF Calculator
See what a dividend ETF pays today — and what it could pay later.
Price
$33.08
Yield
3.19%
Growth
10.9%
median, historical
Pays
Quarterly
Income today
$3,187/year
$266 per month · based on the last 4 payments
Ordinary dividend
taxed this year at your marginal rate
$3,187
If the dividend grows at…
No single forecast. Different assumptions give very different answers — and the shape of that divergence matters more than any single year.
| Growth | Year 10 | Year 20 | Year 30 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.0%conservative | $4,283 | $5,756 | $7,736 |
| 5.0% | $5,191 | $8,456 | $13,774 |
| 8.0% | $6,880 | $14,854 | $32,070 |
| 10.0%commonly used | $8,266 | $21,441 | $55,611 |
| 10.9%historical | $8,949 | $25,129 | $70,563 |
The 6 complete years with data give a median year-over-year growth of 10.9%. That is where the highlighted row comes from — it is a historical measurement, not a forecast.
Compare the funds
Yield alone does not tell you what you keep. Return of capital is deferred, not taxed on receipt.
Dividend ETFs
| ETF | Price | Yield | Growth* | Ret. of capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIG | $236.00 | 1.54% | 7.9% | 0% |
| SCHD | $33.08 | 3.19% | 10.9% | 0% |
| VYM | $157.16 | 2.34% | 5.0% | 0% |
| DGRO | $76.33 | 1.96% | 5.3% | 0% |
| RDVY | $78.86 | 0.86% | -10.0% | 0% |
| VYMI | $102.77 | 3.62% | 7.8% | 0% |
| VIGI | $95.47 | 2.19% | 6.4% | 0% |
| IDV | $43.26 | 5.60% | 10.2% | 0% |
Covered Call ETFs
| ETF | Price | Yield | Growth* | Ret. of capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JEPI | $56.59 | 8.10% | 1.6% | 0% |
| JEPQ | $61.06 | 11.08% | 10.7% | 0% |
| QQQI | $55.37 | 13.80% | insufficient data | 91% |
| SPYI | $53.42 | 11.87% | 3.1% | 80% |
| QYLD | $18.54 | 11.67% | 4.6% | 18% |
* Median year-over-year change across complete calendar years, not a forecast. Some funds distribute both income and capital gains, so their year-to-year figures are inherently uneven.
How to Use This Calculator
Pick a fund, enter how much you have invested, and the calculator shows what it pays today — then what it pays at several different dividend growth assumptions.
The current income figure is built from the fund’s actual distribution record, not from a yield someone typed in. Everything else is arithmetic on top of that.
Why the growth assumption is the whole ballgame
Ask two people what a dividend ETF will pay in ten years and you will get answers that differ by more than half — not because either is wrong, but because they assumed different growth rates. That assumption does far more work than the current yield does.
Assumptions of 10% or more circulate widely. Historically some funds have managed it over specific stretches, and a few have sustained it for a decade. But it is not a safe default, and treating it as one produces projections that quietly do not survive contact with reality.
So this calculator does not pick a number for you. It shows what happens at 3%, 5%, 8% and 10%, and marks the fund’s own historical median so you can see which row is grounded in something and which is aspirational.
The part most calculators leave out
Two funds can both advertise a 12% yield and leave you with very different amounts after tax, because what matters is what the distribution is classified as.
Ordinary dividend income is taxed the year you receive it, at your marginal rate. Return of capital is not — it reduces your cost basis instead, deferring the tax until you sell, and then at long-term capital gains rates. For a fund paying 95% return of capital, that is most of the distribution.
This is not a detail. It is the difference between a high-yield fund that belongs in a tax-sheltered account and one that belongs in a taxable one — and putting them the wrong way round is a common and expensive mistake.
We take the classification directly from the distribution records rather than guessing, so the percentages you see are what the fund actually reported.
What this is not
The projections assume the share price stays flat and that you do not reinvest. They are a way to see the effect of one variable — dividend growth — not a model of your actual return. Real outcomes depend on price changes, reinvestment, your tax situation, and whether the fund maintains its distribution at all.
Nothing here is investment advice. Past distributions are not a promise of future ones, and several funds on this page have cut theirs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does this show several growth rates instead of one number?▼
Because the growth assumption drives the entire result, and nobody knows what it will be. A quick check: $100,000 yielding 3.2% pays about $3,200 this year. At 5% growth that is roughly $5,200 in ten years; at 10% it is $8,300. Same fund, same starting point, a 60% difference in the answer. Most calculators let you type any growth rate you like and show you the result without comment. This one shows the range side by side and marks where the historical average actually falls.
Where does the historical growth rate come from?▼
The median year-over-year change across every complete calendar year we have data for. We use the median rather than a simple start-to-end average because a single one-off distribution can distort it badly — one fund here shows a 3.8% median but a -24% figure from a naive calculation, purely because of a large year-end capital gains payout.
What is return of capital, and why does it matter?▼
Return of capital is a distribution that comes from the fund's assets rather than its income. It is not taxed when you receive it — instead it reduces your cost basis, so the deferred amount is taxed when you eventually sell, typically at long-term capital gains rates rather than your marginal rate on ordinary income. The difference is large: some covered call ETFs pay out 95% as return of capital, while others pay 100% as ordinary income. Same headline yield, very different tax outcome.
Why do you not have a growth rate for some funds?▼
Because they are too new to measure one honestly. Several covered call ETFs launched in 2022 or 2024, so they have fewer than three complete calendar years. Computing a growth rate from a partial first year produces a number that looks impressive and means nothing. We leave it blank instead.
Is the yield based on the last twelve months?▼
It is based on the last N payments, where N is how many times a year the fund pays — four for a quarterly payer, twelve for a monthly one. Strictly summing everything in a 365-day window is a common approach but it captures five payments for quarterly payers whose dates drift, which overstates the yield by around 25%.
How often is the data updated?▼
Prices refresh hourly and the dividend history is re-checked on the same schedule. Dividend records themselves only change four or twelve times a year per fund, so the history is stable between payments.