Step 7 of 13
Dividends, paid and coming
What you've actually been paid, what's due next, and why the net figure is the one that matters.
The Dividends page is your record of payments received. Projections don't need it — those come from each stock's current dividend — but your income history, your yield on cost and the monthly chart all do. It's the difference between what you're forecast to earn and what you've actually earned.
Hold foreign shares and the company's home country keeps a slice before it reaches you. Quantic estimates that from where each holding is based and the tax residence you set, then shows your income both gross and net — net being what actually lands. Most tools only show you the gross.
The calendar looks forward instead: which of your holdings go ex-dividend next, and roughly what each will pay. Pro subscribers can subscribe to it from their own calendar app, so it turns up next to the rest of the week.
There is also the question of when. Most companies pay quarterly on one of three cycles, so a portfolio nobody planned around the calendar tends to collect a great deal in March, June, September and December and very little in between. Your dividend year shows that shape month by month, names the thin ones, and — if you have set a monthly goal — how far an average month gets you towards it.
Key terms
- Gross vs. net
- Gross is the dividend before tax; net is what actually lands after withholding tax. Quantic tracks both.
- Withholding tax
- When you own a foreign stock, the company's home country usually skims a percentage off each dividend before it reaches you — say 15% on US shares. Quantic estimates this from where each holding is based and your tax residence, so your income reflects what actually arrives. It's the tax withheld at source only — not any tax your own country adds, nor amounts you can often reclaim or credit back under a tax treaty.
- Ex-dividend date
- The cut-off day: you must already own the stock before it to receive the next dividend. Buy on or after, and the seller keeps that payment.
- Yield on cost
- Your annual dividends from a holding divided by what you originally paid for it — so a growing payout keeps lifting your yield on cost even as the share price climbs.
- Income smoothing
- Choosing holdings so your dividends arrive evenly through the year rather than in a few big months. Most companies pay quarterly on one of three cycles, so a portfolio built without watching the calendar tends to collect heavily in March, June, September and December and very little in between — which matters if you're spending the income rather than reinvesting it.
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