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Calculator/VYM

VYM Dividend Calculator

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF — Project your returns with dividend reinvestment (DRIP). Pays quarterly.

VYM Dividend Calculator

Yield: 2.19%

1Y: 21.7% | 3Y: 14.9% | 5Y: 7.9% | 10Y: 8.5%

years
Portfolio Growth

No DRIP vs DRIP

Portfolio Value$76.3K$111.7KTotal Dividends$10.5K$13.5KAnnual Dividend$742$1.1KYoC7.42%10.86%

DRIP Advantage

Total invested: $10.0K

+46.30%

$35.3K more

Income Goal
/ month

Reached in year 23

VYM crosses $900.00/yr ($75.00/mo) of dividend income in year 23 of the projection. Goal auto-suggested from your inputs — bump it up to model a stretch target.

Dividend history →Total return →

Scenarios

Three paths based on historical CAGRs. Click any card to load it.

What is VYM?

VYM is an income-focused ETF issued by Vanguard. Tracks the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index — ~440 U.S. large-cap stocks screened purely on above-average dividend yield, market-cap weighted. Heavy exposure to consumer staples, energy, and industrials. Expense ratio 0.06%, forward yield ~2.8-3%, quarterly distributions. Broader and more yield-focused than SCHD (no quality filter), which some investors prefer for diversification and others view as a drawback (no defense against yield traps).

VYM Real Yield

Headline yield adjusted for NAV appreciation (1Y)

HeadlineReal2.2%→2.7%
NAV +21.7%
See full total return analysis →

VYM Dividend History

View all 78 payments and full table →
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How VYM generates income

VYM is an income-focused ETF issued by Vanguard. Tracks the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index — ~440 U.S. large-cap stocks screened purely on above-average dividend yield, market-cap weighted. Heavy exposure to consumer staples, energy, and industrials. Expense ratio 0.06%, forward yield ~2.8-3%, quarterly distributions. Broader and more yield-focused than SCHD (no quality filter), which some investors prefer for diversification and others view as a drawback (no defense against yield traps).

The fund is designed for investors who prioritize regular income distributions. The yield comes from a combination of dividends from the underlying holdings and any income-generating strategies the fund employs.

Income source
Dividends from underlying holdings
Issuer
Vanguard

About the VYM Dividend Calculator

This VYM dividend calculator projects how your position grows with and without DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment). Every input is prefilled with live VYM data — current price, latest per-share distribution, detected payment frequency, and historical CAGR — so you can hit calculate immediately, or override any field to model your own assumptions.

The VYM DRIP calculator runs two parallel scenarios: one where every distribution is reinvested into more VYM shares, and one where distributions are taken as cash and never compounded. The gap between the two curves is the compounding premium — the extra wealth you build by letting VYM dividends buy more shares over time. Extra monthly contributions, tax rates, and custom dividend growth rates are all supported, and every calculation runs in your browser with no additional API calls after page load.

Why this calculator is more accurate than most

Traditional DRIP calculators treat dividend-per-share and share-price as two independent quantities that grow at their own separate rates. That works fine for stocks like SCHD or KO, where management sets the payout and the stock price moves with the business. It breaks badly for option-income ETFs like MSTY, NVDY, or TSLY, where distributions are sourced from option premium on the underlying — meaning the dividend dollar is mechanically a fraction of NAV, not a separate variable. Let those two quantities compound independently and you get absurd outputs (trillion-dollar portfolios from $10K) because the implied yield silently grows to 400%+ as price collapses faster than the dollar dividend.

We solve this with two projection modes. Dividend Growth mode is the standard model — correct for dividend-growth stocks and traditional income ETFs. Yield-on-NAV mode (auto-selected when starting yield exceeds 20%) locks the forward yield and recomputes distributions each year asyield × current NAV, so as price falls, dividend-per-share falls proportionally. This matches the physics of option-income funds and produces realistic projections instead of fantasy numbers.

You can toggle between the two modes above the input form. For VYM, dividend-growth mode is the default and matches how most investors think about this asset.

Yield on Cost — the metric that matters for VYM long-term holders

The yearly projection table includes a YoC (Yield on Cost) column. Yield on cost is your annual dividend income divided by what you originally paid — not by what VYM is worth today. For a dividend-growth ETF, this is the single most important long-term number, because it reflects how the rising payout compounds against your fixed cost basis. A VYM position bought today might yield 2.2% up front, but at historical dividend growth rates it can compound to a 7-12% YoC over 15-20 years without you adding a dollar. That is the "snowball" effect long-term VYM holders are paying for, and it is invisible if you only look at headline yield.

The two levers that change results the most are the growth assumptions and the holding period. For a volatile, high-yield fund, a 0% or slightly negative growth assumption is usually more realistic than extrapolating a historical CAGR, because distribution levels often decay as implied volatility normalizes. For stable dividend ETFs and index funds, the 5Y CAGR is a reasonable baseline. The VYM dividend history page shows every past payment in detail, and the total return analyzer strips out NAV erosion to show your real yield.

VYM DRIP calculator — frequently asked questions

How does the VYM DRIP calculator work?▾
The VYM calculator simulates two parallel scenarios: one where every dividend is paid out as cash, and one where every dividend automatically buys more VYM shares. It uses the current VYM price, the most recent dividend payment, the detected payment frequency (quarterly), and a historical dividend growth rate to project your balance month by month. You can override any prefilled value — custom yield, custom growth rate, extra monthly contributions, and tax drag — and the chart updates instantly in your browser with no server calls after the initial page load.
Why does the VYM calculator prefill a yield that's different from the headline number I see elsewhere?▾
We use forward annualization — the most recent per-share payment multiplied by the payment frequency — rather than the trailing twelve-month sum. For VYM paying quarterly, that is the most honest estimate of what you would earn going forward if the next payout matches the most recent one. Headline "TTM yield" figures include payouts from many months ago, which overstates the income of ETFs whose distributions have been trending down and understates the income of ETFs whose distributions have been trending up.
What dividend growth rate should I use for VYM?▾
VYM is a dividend-growth ETF — its underlying companies have a track record of raising payouts year after year, which is the whole point of holding it. Historical 5Y and 10Y CAGRs are a reasonable baseline; for VYM that has typically been in the 8-12% range, though recent rebalances and macro conditions can push the forward number lower. The "Conservative" preset on the growth-rate selector applies roughly half the historical 5Y CAGR, which is a sensible stress test if you want to avoid extrapolating the past decade's pace.
Does the VYM calculator account for taxes?▾
Yes. You can enter a tax rate and the calculator will deduct it from each dividend before reinvesting or paying out. For VYM, the realistic rate depends on whether your dividends are classified as qualified (lower rate), ordinary (higher rate), or return of capital (not taxed until sale). For index and traditional dividend ETFs, most distributions are qualified dividends taxed at long-term capital gains rates. The calculator applies the same rate to every payment; real-world tax treatment can be more nuanced.
Can I use the VYM calculator for retirement account projections?▾
Yes. If you plan to hold VYM in a Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, or 401(k), set the tax rate to 0% — distributions inside those accounts are not taxed year-by-year. In a Traditional IRA you will pay ordinary income tax on withdrawals later, so the post-tax balance will be lower than what the calculator shows; in a Roth IRA, qualified withdrawals are tax-free and the calculator figures are directly applicable. The "extra monthly contributions" field is useful for modeling ongoing IRA or 401(k) payroll contributions into the same position.
How is VYM different from buying the underlying directly?▾
VYM is a fund that holds a basket of securities and distributes the income on a regular schedule. Buying the constituents directly would give you the same economic exposure but require far more capital and effort. The trade-off is the fund's expense ratio, which is deducted from returns annually.

VYM head-to-head comparisons

In-depth editorial analysis of VYM versus popular alternatives.

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