Dividend Investor Earning $9,400 a Month Shares Top 8 Stock Picks — 'I'm 6 Years From Retirement'

Dividend stocks are gaining ground as investors flock to reliable investments amid tariff-related uncertainties. A report from S&P Global estimates that US aggregated dividends are expected to increase 7% to $784 billion in 2025.

About two months ago, a dividend investor shared his detailed income report and story on r/Dividends — a Reddit community with over 690,000 followers. The portfolio screenshots shared by the investor on the social media platform showed his monthly dividend income was around $9,400 per month with a portfolio value of roughly $617,000. 

"I'm about 6 years from retirement. I can push to 8 years but really would rather not. Love my job but like time off and travel more. This is a piece of my portfolio. Goal is to get this account to about 15000+ a month in the next 6 years. Using DRIP on all of these. Once I hit that on about $2.4M I'm out," the investor said.

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The investor stated that he is debt-free, owns his home, and has two kids in college.

 "I have made good money for about 20 years and my wife didn't work for the last 5 years or so. She's back now which is nice for a few years," he added.

Let's take a look at some of the top dividend stocks in his portfolio.

NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF 

NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF QQQI accounted for about 43% of the total portfolio of the investor making $9,400 a month in monthly dividends. NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF exposes investors to Nasdaq 100 companies and generates income by selling covered call options on its underlying index. 

NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF

The NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF SPYI is a high-yield covered call ETF that pays monthly dividend income. It invests in some of the top S&P 500 companies and generates extra income by selling call options on stocks, generating extra premium income for shareholders. According to the portfolio screenshots shared by the investor, he had 4,953 shares of the fund in his portfolio which earned him about $33,400 in annual income.

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iShares Semiconductor ETF 

The iShares Semiconductor ETF SOXX was the third largest holding of the investor. Broadcom AVGO, Nvidia NVDA, Qualcomm QCOM and Advanced Micro Devices AMD are among the top positions of the fund's portfolio. SOXX yields less than 1%. 

YieldMax Magnificent 7 Fund of Option Income ETFs

The YieldMax Magnificent 7 Fund of Option Income ETFs YMAG invests in YieldMax ETFs that use option income strategies related to the Magnificent Seven companies, which include Apple Inc. AAPL, Microsoft Corporation MSFT, Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOG)), Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, NVIDIA Corporation NVDA, Tesla, Inc. TSLA and Meta Platforms Inc. META. The fund has a distribution rate of 48%. 

BP plc

About 1.9% of the investor's portfolio was allocated to British oil and gas company BP plc BP. The stock has a dividend yield of over 5%. BP shares are down 11% over the past year.

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Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSEARCA: XLF

The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund XLF gives investors exposure to the financial sector of the S&P 500. It has a dividend yield of about 1.4%. 

Nexstar Media Group

Texas-based media company Nexstar Media Group Inc NXST  has a dividend yield of about 4.4%. The stock accounted for about 1.6% of the total portfolio. Over the past 12 months, NXST is up 7%. 

YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF 

The YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF MSTY generates income by selling call options on MicroStrategy MSTR stock. Its distribution rate is about 85%. MSTY is down 43% over the past year.

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