Dividend Reinvestment Calculator

How to use the dividend reinvestment calculator

1. Enter your starting position: how much you are investing and the current share price. The tool converts that into a share count, including fractions.
2. Add the dividend details: the annual yield today, how fast you expect the dividend per share to grow, and the expected annual share price growth.
3. Set the horizon and extras: how many years to project, any amount you add each year, and a dividend tax rate if you hold the shares in a taxable account.
4. Pick a payout frequency — annual, quarterly or monthly — and leave the ♻️ reinvest toggle on for a DRIP or switch it off to collect the dividends as cash.
5. Read the results. You get the ending value, total shares, final-year dividend income, yield on cost and a side-by-side comparison of reinvesting versus taking the cash, plus a year-by-year table you can download as CSV.

How the model works

Each year the calculator works out the dividend per share, then pays and reinvests it in equal instalments:

dividend per share (year n) = start price × yield ÷ 100 × (1 + dividend growth) ^ (n − 1)
payment              = shares × dividend per share ÷ payments per year
net payment          = payment × (1 − tax rate)
new shares           = net payment ÷ share price at that moment

The share price rises smoothly, compounding once per payment period so that the annual growth rate you enter is respected exactly:

price step = (1 + price growth ÷ 100) ^ (1 ÷ payments per year)

Any annual contribution buys shares at the year-end price. Two definitions matter when reading the output:

Worked examples

One simple year. $10,000 buys 100 shares at $100. A 4% yield with no growth and one annual payment pays $400, which buys 4 more shares at $100. You finish with 104 shares worth $10,400.

Ten flat years. Same inputs over ten years, with the price and dividend standing still: each year the share count grows by 4%, so you end with 100 × 1.04¹⁰ = 148.02 shares, worth $14,802. Every cent of that gain comes from reinvestment, because the price never moved.

A realistic dividend grower. $10,000 at $100 a share, 4% yield, dividends growing 5% a year, price growing 5% a year, quarterly payments, 20 years, no tax. The projection ends with about 216.5 shares at $265.33, worth $57,437. Dividend income in year 20 is roughly $2,136, a yield on cost of 21.4% on the original $10,000.

The cost of spending the dividends. Run the same scenario with reinvestment off: you still hold 100 shares worth $26,533 and you have collected $13,226 of dividends, for $39,759 in total. Reinvesting added about $17,700, or 44% more, over those 20 years.

Tips and common mistakes

• Do not stack an unrealistic yield on top of high growth. A 6% yield growing 10% a year for 30 years implies a payout no real company has sustained. High yields often signal a dividend at risk of being cut.
• Match the account to the tax rate. In a tax-sheltered account set the tax to 0. In a taxable account use your marginal rate on dividends, and remember that foreign withholding tax may apply on top.
• Price growth and dividend growth are linked in practice. If a company grows its dividend 7% a year for decades, the share price tends to follow, keeping the yield roughly stable. Entering 10% price growth with 0% dividend growth quietly assumes the yield collapses.
• Watch fractional shares. This model always reinvests the full payment. Brokers that only buy whole shares leave a little cash idle, which slightly lowers the result.
• Fees and inflation are not included. Subtract fund charges from your growth assumptions, and remember the ending value is in future money unless you enter inflation-adjusted growth rates.

Dividend projections are estimates, not promises: dividends can be cut, prices fall as well as rise, and no constant-rate model captures a real market. Nothing here is financial advice.

Glossary

• DRIP – dividend reinvestment plan; payouts automatically buy more shares.
• Dividend yield – annual dividend divided by the current share price.
• Dividend growth rate – the annual percentage increase in the dividend per share.
• Yield on cost – current annual dividend income divided by the amount you originally invested.
• Payout frequency – how often dividends are paid; most US shares pay quarterly, many European ones annually or semi-annually.

Privacy

Every calculation runs in your browser. Your inputs stay on your device, and the CSV download is generated locally.

Last reviewed: September 21, 2026