AAPL TSLA AMZN META AMD NVDA PEP COST ADBE GOOG AMGN HON INTC INTU NFLX ADP SBUX MRNA AAPL TSLA AMZN META AMD NVDA PEP COST ADBE GOOG AMGN HON INTC INTU NFLX ADP SBUX MRNA AAPL TSLA AMZN META AMD NVDA PEP COST ADBE GOOG AMGN HON INTC INTU NFLX ADP SBUX MRNA Markets GDV Have $500K? 24 Tickers for $40,574.93 Per Year in Dividends March 11, 2026 — 09:30 am EDT Written by BNK Invest for BNK Invest -> $500K can be enough money to retire on. Even as early as age 50! The trick is to convert the pile of cash into cash flow that can pay the bills. I'm talking about $40,574.93 per year in dividend income on that nest egg, thanks to 8%+ average yields. These are passive payouts that show up every quarter or, in many cases, every month . Meanwhile, we keep that $500K nest egg intact. Or, better yet, grind that principal higher steadily and safely. Got more in your retirement account? Cool--more monthly dividend income for you! We'll talk specific stocks, funds and yields in a moment. First things first, let's wipe the false promises of mainstream finance from our minds. Step 1: Forget "Buy and Hope" Investing Most half-million-dollar stashes are piled into "America's ticker" SPY. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is the most popular symbol in the land. For many 401(K)'s, this is the "go to" ticker . Sad because SPY doesn't pay . It yields just 1.1%. That's $5,500 per year on $500K... poverty level stuff. When we retire, we need passive income to replace our active paychecks. SPY won't get it done. Step 2: Ditch 60/40, Too The 60/40 portfolio has been exposed as senseless. Retirees were sold a bill of goods when promised that a 60% slice of stocks and 40% of bonds would somehow be a "safe mix" that would not drop together. That can work--but not always, and that "sometimes" can really hurt! Oops. Think back to 2022 when inflation -- plus an aggressive Federal Reserve -- drop-kicked equities and fixed income before they went on a serious bull run in 2023, 2024 and into 2025 (with a brief interruption for the April "tariff tantrum.") It just goes to show that bonds are not the haven guaranteed by the 60/40 high priests. They could easily fall just as hard (or harder) than stocks in the next economic crisis. In 2022, for example, US Treasuries plunged , which resulted in the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) getting tagged. Sure, it still paid its dividend. But even including payouts, the fund was down 31% -- worse than the S&P 500. Ouch! When stocks and bonds are dicey, where do we turn? To a better bet. A strategy to retire on dividends alone that leaves that beautiful pile of cash untouched. Step 3: Create a "No Withdrawal" Portfolio Tom Jacobs and I wrote the book on a dividend-powered retirement. In How to Retire on Dividends: Earn a Safe 8%, Leave Your Principal Intact , we outline our "no withdrawal" approach to retirement: Save a bunch of money. ("Check.") Buy safe dividend stocks with big yields. Enjoy the income while keeping the original principal intact . To make that $500k last, and our working and saving lives pay off, we really need 8%+ yields. And while we typically don't see these stocks touted on Bloomberg or CNBC, they are around. Of course, there are plenty of landmines in the high yield space. Some of these stocks are cheap for a reason. Which is why we need to be contrarian when looking for income. We must identify why a yield is incorrectly allowed to be so high. (In other words, we need to figure out why the stock is priced so cheaply. Going by the yield alone is like reading only the headlines. We read the whole article--and much, much more!) The 24 stocks and funds in my Contrarian Income Report portfolio average an 8.1% payout today. This collection of monster dividends spins off $81,149.86 a year for every million dollars invested! 24 Safe Payers for $81,149.86 in Dividends? ? Source: Income Calendar And you don't have to be a millionaire to take advantage of this strategy. A $500K nest egg will create a still appetizing $40,574.93 in annual income. A delectable dividend meal. 24 Safe Payers for $40,574.93 in Dividends Source: Income Calendar ?The important thing is that these yields are safe, which creates stability for the stock (and fund) prices attached to them. We want our income, with our principal intact. It's really the only way to retire comfortably, without having to stare at stock tickers all day, every day. Now, many blue-chip yields are safe, but small. They just need to hit the gym and bulk up a bit. Here's how we take perfectly good yet modest dividends and make them into braggarts. Step 4: Supersize Those Yields Mastercard (MA) is a near -perfect dividend stock. Its payout is always climbing, nearly doubling over the last five years. (MA shareholders, you can thank every business that accepts Mastercard for your "pennies on every dollar" rake.) Tap, tap, tap. Remember cash? Me neither. Another 2020 casualty, with Mastercard making a few dimes or dollars on every plastic transa