Excel Worksheet Download – Baseline
Instructions to use the Worksheet
What this spreadsheet is
This is a rules-based dividend income planner.
It helps you understand which dividend stocks in your portfolio are actually doing the best job of generating income, and it gives you a structured way to decide where new money should go each month.
It’s designed to help you grow monthly dividend income without selling anything and without needing to constantly guess what to buy next.
What it does for you
- Evaluates all your dividend holdings based on income efficiency and risk
- Flags holdings as:
- GREEN (healthy)
- YELLOW (watch / slow down)
- RED (pause adding — but don’t sell)
- Helps you route new cash (dividends + deposits) toward better-performing income sources
- Lets you set your own:
- Monthly income goal
- Risk tolerance
- Concentration limits
- Lets you test new stocks before buying to see if they actually improve your income system
What it does not do
- It does not require selling
- It does not auto-trade
- It does not assume DRIP (dividends are treated as cash)
- It does not give stock “tips”
It’s a decision framework, not a trading bot.
How to use it (high level)
- Paste your own dividend holdings into this tab (Step1_Governance) – or input this into ChatGPT and input an export of your holdings and ask it to update that tab.
- Set your income goal and risk limits in the Parameters tab
- Each month:
- Enter how much cash you have to invest
- Follow the suggested allocation
- If something looks risky, you simply stop adding to it and redirect new money elsewhere
There’s a START_HERE tab in the file that walks through the workflow step-by-step.
Why this works
Most people guess what to buy next or chase yields. This system forces consistency, controls risk, and improves income over time by using rules instead of emotions. You can be conservative or aggressive — the same system adapts based on the settings you choose.
I made a locked down version for kids – so the formulas and locked and they can not change them but I have to check it.
