DRIP Calculator

A dividend reinvestment plan. Instead of paying dividends to you as cash, each payment automatically buys more shares of the same stock, which then earn dividends themselves. Most brokers offer it as a free toggle on any holding.

That is exactly what the comparison table answers for your own numbers. Reinvesting compounds the position; taking the cash gives you income now and the option to spend or reinvest elsewhere. The gap between the two columns is the value of the decision — it is often large over decades and modest over a few years.

A compound interest calculator applies one blended growth rate. This one tracks shares, dividend per share and price separately, so you can see how many shares you accumulate and what income the holding pays — figures a blended rate cannot produce.

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Yes. The headline shows both annual and monthly forward income — what the holding will pay over the coming year, divided by twelve. Note that most US stocks pay quarterly, so real income arrives in four lumps rather than evenly each month.

Quarterly, which matches most US-listed companies. Each reinvestment buys at that quarter's share price rather than a single annual price, so share accumulation is not overstated.

Today's price, from your broker or any quote page. It sets how many shares your investment buys at the start, so it matters more than it looks.

The current annual dividend divided by the current share price, which most quote pages show directly. Use the trailing figure unless the company has announced a change.

Check the company's own record over five and ten years — that history is the best available guide. Long-standing dividend growers have often managed 5-8% a year, but no rate is guaranteed and dividends can be cut.

Not necessarily, and forcing them to be equal is the assumption this calculator exists to avoid. Over very long periods a stable payout ratio implies they converge, but over any realistic holding period they diverge, and the divergence changes how cheaply your dividends buy shares.

You see the income effect in isolation: dividends still compound into more shares, and because the price is not rising, each dividend buys more of them. It is a useful way to check that a thesis rests on the payout rather than on the market re-rating the stock.

Yes, enter a negative price growth rate. It is a worthwhile sanity check: reinvesting into a genuinely declining business buys more and more of something worth less, which the raw share count alone will not tell you.

For a tax-sheltered account, 0. For a taxable account, whatever rate applies to your dividends. The model uses one flat rate and does not distinguish qualified from ordinary dividends or handle allowances — it is a simplification, not tax advice.

The current annual dividend divided by what you originally paid per share, rather than by today's price. It shows how a long hold has developed. A 3% yield growing 6% a year is close to 9.6% on cost after twenty years.

Both, depending on use. It is a fair measure of how a position has performed for you. It is not a reason to keep holding, because the money you have tied up is worth today's price, not what you paid — the relevant comparison for a new decision is always the current yield.

Because that is the figure you plan around. It is the share count you have accumulated multiplied by the dividend per share now in force.

Annual dividend per share divided by share price, expressed as a percentage. A $2.00 dividend on a $50 share is 4%. Yield on cost uses the same numerator with your original purchase price as the denominator.

A very high yield usually means the market expects a cut, since yield rises automatically as the price falls. This calculator will happily project a 12% yield growing forever; reality frequently will not. Treat an unusually high yield as a question rather than an opportunity.

No, deliberately. The site holds no live market data at all — that keeps it fast, private and free of a price feed that could be wrong. You supply the price, yield and growth rate, which also means you always know which assumptions produced the result.

Not as an event. Growth is a constant rate, so you can model a permanently lower rate but not a suspension in year seven followed by a recovery. Dividend cuts are the main risk this kind of projection understates.

No. Price growth is constant. In reality, reinvesting during a decline buys more shares cheaply and can improve the outcome — an effect a smooth model cannot show in either direction.

No. Most brokers now reinvest dividends free of charge, so the default assumption is zero cost. If your plan charges, the real result will be slightly below what is shown here.

No — everything on this page is nominal. For an inflation-adjusted view, follow the link below the table into the compound interest calculator, which restates the balance in today's money.

Not in one run. Model each holding separately, or use a blended yield and growth rate as an approximation. A true portfolio view would need per-holding data the site does not store.

Usually payment timing and the price used for reinvestment. This model uses quarterly payments reinvested at that quarter's drifting price; a broker may use annual figures, a single price, or include fees. The assumptions are stated above so you can line them up.