How Much Dividend Income Do VFV, XDIV, and XDG Actually Pay?

Let's skip the theory for a minute and just look at the actual numbers. If you put money into VFV, XDIV, and XDG today, how much cash would really land in your account — and how often?

The Numbers, Roughly

Yields move with share price and distribution changes, so treat these as ballpark figures rather than guarantees — but the relative ordering (VFV lowest, XDIV highest, XDG in between) has held fairly consistently since all three funds existed alongside each other.

A Blended Example

Say you're running a 50/25/25 split (VFV/XDIV/XDG) on a $100,000 portfolio. That's roughly $50,000 in VFV, $25,000 each in XDIV and XDG. Annual income would look something like: $50,000 × 0.85% + $25,000 × 3.1% + $25,000 × 2.8% ≈ $425 + $775 + $700 = ~$1,900/year, or roughly $158/month — with XDIV and XDG paying monthly and VFV topping it up quarterly.

Why Yield Isn't the Whole Story

It's tempting to look at that table and conclude XDIV is "better" because the number is bigger. But total return — yield plus price appreciation — usually tells a different story, and VFV's historically stronger price growth has often more than made up for its skinny yield over long holding periods. A high yield paid out today is money that's no longer compounding inside the fund; a low yield with strong growth is compounding quietly in the background. Neither is objectively superior — they just serve different goals.

Scaling It Up

Want to see what this looks like at your own numbers, or model how growing contributions compound over time into a bigger income stream down the road? That's exactly what a retirement income calculator is built for.

Related Calculators

Frequently Asked Questions