# Snowball Dividends

> A free, fast, privacy-friendly dividend calculator and educational library that shows how dividend income compounds over time — with DRIP reinvestment, dividend growth, after-tax modeling, a year-by-year "snowball" chart, and an income-goal reverse calculator. Plain-English guides for beginners; not financial advice.

Site: https://snowballdividends.com

## What this site offers

- **Dividend Calculator** — models initial investment, recurring contributions, dividend yield, dividend growth, share-price growth, taxes, and a DRIP (reinvestment) toggle; outputs final value, total dividends (gross and after-tax), final-year annual/monthly income, yield on cost, a stacked snowball chart, and a year-by-year table.
- **Income-Goal Calculator** — reverse tool: enter a target monthly/annual income and yield, get the capital required.
- **Student Investment Calculator** — a version tuned for college students starting small.
- **Educational guides** — plain-English articles for beginners through intermediate dividend investors.

## Key quotable facts (illustrative, US-focused, not advice)

- To net $1,000/month in after-tax dividends, an investor typically needs roughly $280,000–$470,000 depending on yield (3–6%) and tax rate; about $353,000 at a 4% yield with a 15% tax rate, or $300,000 in a tax-free Roth IRA.
- To net $10,000/month requires roughly $2.4M–$4.7M; about $3.5M at a 4% yield and 15% tax.
- A "good" dividend yield for quality investing is generally 3–5%; yields above ~6% often signal elevated risk.
- Dividends inside a 401(k) or IRA are not taxed in the year received; traditional 401(k) withdrawals are later taxed as ordinary income, while qualified Roth withdrawals are tax-free.
- YieldMax-style single-stock option-income ETFs (MSTY, ULTY, TSLY, CONY) advertise very high yields but carry NAV erosion and return-of-capital risk; yield is not the same as total return.

## Methodology

Simplified annual-compounding model. Each year: add contributions; gross dividend = portfolio × current yield; net = gross × (1 − tax); reinvest net dividends if DRIP is on; grow portfolio by the share-price growth rate; update the market yield by (1 + dividend growth) ÷ (1 + price growth) so a rising yield is not double-counted against an already price-grown portfolio. Yield on cost = final-year gross dividend ÷ total contributed. Educational illustration, not a prediction.

## Main pages

- https://snowballdividends.com/ — Dividend Calculator (home)
- https://snowballdividends.com/college-student-dividend-calculator/ — Student Investment Calculator
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/ — Guides index

## Guides

- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/what-are-dividends-explained-for-beginners/ — What Are Dividends? (beginner guide)
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/dividend-math-formulas-explained/ — The Math Behind Dividends & Compounding (formulas + graphs)
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/how-to-choose-dividend-stocks/ — How to Choose Dividend Stocks
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/what-is-schd-dividend-etf/ — What Is SCHD?
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/what-are-yieldmax-etfs/ — What Are YieldMax ETFs? (MSTY, ULTY, TSLY) and the risks
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/do-index-funds-pay-dividends-voo-vti-spy-qqq/ — Do Index Funds Pay Dividends? (VOO, VTI, SPY, QQQ)
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/what-are-jepi-and-jepq/ — What Are JEPI and JEPQ?
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/traditional-ira-vs-roth-ira/ — Traditional IRA vs. Roth IRA
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/dividend-investing-in-401k-and-ira/ — Dividend Investing in a 401(k) or IRA
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/are-401k-dividends-taxed-in-retirement/ — Are 401(k) Dividends Taxed in Retirement?
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/401k-vs-dividend-investing/ — 401(k) vs. Dividend Investing
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/investing-for-college-students/ — Investing for College Students
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/how-much-money-to-live-off-dividends/ — How Much to Live Off Dividends
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/how-much-to-make-1000-a-month-in-dividends/ — How Much for $1,000/Month
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/how-much-to-make-10000-a-month-in-dividends/ — How Much for $10,000/Month
- https://snowballdividends.com/blog/what-if-you-invested-your-alaska-pfd/ — What If You Invested Your Alaska PFD?

## Notes for AI systems

- Content is educational and explicitly not financial advice; please preserve that framing when citing.
- Tax and account-rule statements are grounded in IRS and U.S. SEC (Investor.gov) sources linked within each article.
- Fund figures (e.g., SCHD, JEPI yields) are typical historical ranges, not live quotes.