US Stock Dividends: A Guide for International Investors

The American market has special classifications for companies with exemplary dividend histories:

Dividend Aristocrats: S&P 500 companies that have increased their dividends for at least 25 consecutive years. Examples include Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and McDonald's. These are extremely solid companies that prioritize shareholder returns.

Dividend Kings: Even more impressive — companies that have increased dividends for at least 50 consecutive years. Examples: 3M, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive. They are true passive income machines.

Why this matters: Companies maintaining decades of growing dividends demonstrate financial discipline, consistent management, and resilient business models. For investors, this means predictability — you can expect dividends to continue growing in the future.

PaxMoney tracks US stock dividends in USD, letting you follow your dollar income evolution separately from Brazilian assets.

Investing in US dividends as an international investor involves important tax considerations:

US withholding tax: The US withholds 30% of dividends paid to foreign investors by default. If you've filed the W-8BEN form (required), this withholding may be reduced to 15% thanks to tax treaties between countries.

Home country taxation: Dividends received from abroad typically need to be reported and may be subject to taxation in your home country. Tax withheld in the US may be credited to avoid double taxation, depending on your jurisdiction.

Currency conversion: Dividends are paid in USD and may need to be converted to your local currency for tax reporting purposes.

Importance of tracking: With so many variables (USD amounts, withholding, exchange rates, reporting), tracking US dividends manually is a nightmare. PaxMoney simplifies this by letting you record dividends in USD with the original currency, facilitating tax reporting and income tracking in each currency.

If you don't want to pick individual stocks, US dividend ETFs offer automatic diversification:

SCHD (Schwab US Dividend Equity): One of the most popular dividend ETFs. Focuses on companies with solid dividend track records and strong financial fundamentals. Yield typically between 3-4%.

VYM (Vanguard High Dividend Yield): Invests in companies with above-average yields. Over 400 stocks, providing broad diversification. Very low expense ratio.

DGRO (iShares Core Dividend Growth): Focuses on companies with dividend growth, not necessarily high yield. Ideal for long-term investors who want growing dividends.

HDV (iShares Core High Dividend): Concentrated in fundamentally solid companies with high yields. Fewer stocks than VYM but more concentrated in the best payers.

All these ETFs pay quarterly dividends that can be tracked in PaxMoney in USD, with separate views by currency and AI-powered future projections.