Just hit $2,000/year in dividends, should I pivot to dividend growth or stay with high-yield blue chips?
Just crossed $2,171/year in projected dividends. Took a few years of consistent buying to get here and I wanted to share + get some honest input before I deploy more capital.
Quick context: I'm French, which is why you'll see a few French-listed names (TotalEnergies, L'Oréal, Air Liquide). Rest is mostly US blue chips.
Current portfolio (mixed bag):
- High yield: Realty Income (O), Coca-Cola (KO), TotalEnergies (TTE.PA)
- Dividend growth: Microsoft (MSFT), Visa (V), Mastercard (MA), Intuit (INTU)
- Middle ground: Abbott (ABT), Walmart (WMT), Caterpillar (CAT), Aflac (AFL), Nucor (NUE), L'Oréal (OR.PA), Air Liquide (AI.PA), Cisco (CSCO)
YoY income growth is +6.89%. Next personal goal: $400/month average.
Where I'm stuck:
Two paths I keep going back and forth on for new capital:
- Lean into dividend growth: low-yield, high-growth-rate names. Yield is small today but the snowball compounds harder over 20+ years.
- Lean into high-yield staples: KO, JNJ, PG type names. Lower growth rate but visible income today, and they tend to hold up in downturns.
I'm in my 30s, so technically growth makes more sense on paper. But there's something psychologically powerful about watching dividend income actually pay bills right now, it keeps me consistent.
What I'd love to hear:
- For investors 10+ years into this, which path did you take, and would you do it again?
- Is "just do both" the obvious answer, or does splitting capital water down both strategies?
- Any underrated dividend growth names you'd add to the watchlist?
Appreciate any honest takes. Not looking for someone to tell me exactly what to buy, just curious how others have thought through this same fork in the road.