I Finally Reached $1 Million – Here’s How I Earned $4,000 a Month from My Investments

The million-dollar milestone is viewed by many as enough to achieve financial independence and even retirement. Despite inflation’s toll on the value of the dollar, such a sum is still respectable, even if it’s not quite enough to fund an early, comfortable retirement in a major city. Sure, $1 million isn’t what it used to be, but it’s still a lot of money. And it can finance a pretty good retirement lifestyle for those who maintain a budget and have limited liabilities and few, if any, dependents.

In this piece, we’ll look into the case of a newly minted millionaire investor who’s invested their funds with passive income in mind. They’ve managed to put their $1 million to work for them, and it’s reportedly pulling in a colossal $4,000 per month, which works out to $48,000 per year. Indeed, that’s enough for many careful budgeters to retire young and in perpetuity. But is the individual taking on too much risk by reaching farther for yield? Let’s find out.

A $1 million portfolio. How’s it positioned such that it pulls in $4,000 per year?

To earn $4,000 per year in dividends, a $1 million portfolio would have to average a yield of 4.8%. That’s completely achievable in today’s higher-rate environment. With a balanced mix of dividend-focused ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds), covered call ETFs for a yield boost, and some individual higher-yielding blue-chip stocks, this individual has pulled it off, a $4,000 per-month income stream that’s well-balanced and seems to manage risk quite well.

What’s at the core of the portfolio? More than $450,000 in one single ETF: the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (NYSEARCA:SCHD), a fantastic selection for the bedrock of someone’s yield-oriented portfolio. The current yield sits at 3.72%, which is more than a percentage point shy of the 4.8% target yield their portfolio needs. So, the other half of the portfolio will need to pull a bit more than its fair share in weight to get the yield in the appropriate target range.

Unsurprisingly, the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income (NYSEARCA:JEPI) ETF comprises a huge chunk of their portfolio, currently valued at just north of $200,000. Indeed, if there’s an ETF that can do the heavy lifting for the yield, it’s the JEPI, which is a covered call ETF that boasts a yield just shy of 7.5%.

The JEPI is incredibly popular among American investors looking to raise their yield without raising their risk by a similar magnitude. As volatility surges off the charts, as it has been doing since Donald Trump’s Liberation Day tariff announcement, there’s an opportunity to profit from the choppiness, as options premiums rise. In any case, I think the JEPI is a fantastic portfolio diversifier and yield carrier for anyone looking to retire off dividends, rather than drawing down from one’s principal.

What about the supporting cast of this yield-heavy portfolio?

The SCHD and JEPI comprise close to two-thirds of the portfolio, leaving the remainder to individual dividend names, many of which pack a punch when it comes to yield. With names like Verizon (NYSE:VZ), which currently yields 6.3%, Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) with a 5.9% yield, and Pepsi (NASDAQ:PEP) with a 4.1% yield, the individual-stock section of the portfolio isn’t just dividend-rich, it’s quite lowly-correlated to the broad market!

In any case, it should come as no surprise that the stock has held up like a steady rock amid the latest sell-off that’s primarily been concentrated in higher-multiple tech stocks. While the individual names have robust dividends that can prop up the portfolio’s overall yield, I’m certainly not against concentrating more on the SCHD and JEPI, which are the stars of this million-dollar portfolio.

The bottom line

While the yield approach is the right fit for this individual, retirees should think more about total returns (dividends and capital gains) and perhaps think more about withdrawal rates, so they’re not limited to low-growth high-yielders that may struggle to sustain growth in the long haul. At the end of the day, thinking in terms of withdrawal rates instead of dividend yield can itself pay dividends over the long run!

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