Is SMHD or RYLD a better dividend investment in 2026?

SMHD currently yields 84.39% with a 5% 5-year dividend growth rate. RYLD yields 12.14% with 5% growth. The better choice depends on your goal: SMHD offers higher current income.

What is the dividend yield difference between SMHD and RYLD?

SMHD has a forward dividend yield of 84.39% ($2.00/share annually). RYLD yields 12.14% ($1.81/share annually). The yield gap is 72.25 percentage points.

Home › Compare › SMHD vs RYLD

SMHD vs RYLD: Dividend Comparison 2026

SMHD yields 84.39% · RYLD yields 12.14%● Live data

vsPost on X →

After 10 years · $10,000 invested · DRIP enabled

🏆 SMHD wins by $1.97M in total portfolio value

INVESTMENT

TIME HORIZON10 years

SMHD

● Live price

84.39%

Share price

$2.37

Annual div

$2.00

5Y div CAGR

Payout ratio

50%

After 10 yrs · $10,000 · DRIP

Portfolio value

$2.01M

Annual income

$604,528.33

Full SMHD calculator →

RYLD

● Live price

12.14%

Share price

$14.95

Annual div

$1.81

5Y div CAGR

Payout ratio

50%

After 10 yrs · $10,000 · DRIP

Portfolio value

$44.5K

Annual income

$2,587.35

Full RYLD calculator →

Portfolio growth — SMHD vs RYLD

📍 SMHD pulled ahead of the other in Year 1

Annual dividend income

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Recession Test — Did They Cut Dividends?

How each stock treated shareholders during the 3 biggest crises of the last 20 years

Crisis Period	SMHD	RYLD
2008–2009 GFC	— No data	— No data
2020 Q1–Q2 COVID	— No data	— No data
2022 Q4 Rate Hike	— No data	— No data

Based on dividend payment history. "Increased" = dividend grew during crisis. "Maintained" = held within 3%. "Cut" = reduced by more than 3%.

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Dividend Calendar Overlap

Combined, SMHD + RYLD cover 0 of 12 months — good coverage

Jan

—

Feb

—

Mar

—

Apr

—

May

—

Jun

—

Jul

—

Aug

—

Sep

—

Oct

—

Nov

—

Dec

—

SMHD pays

RYLD pays

Both pay

Neither

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Tax Bracket Optimizer

Which stock is actually better after tax? Adjust your rate to find out.

SMHD

Annual income on $10K today (after 15% tax)

$7,173.00/yr

After 10yr DRIP, annual income (after tax)

$513,849.08/yr

RYLD

Annual income on $10K today (after 15% tax)

$1,031.60/yr

After 10yr DRIP, annual income (after tax)

$2,199.25/yr

At 15% tax rate, SMHD beats the other by $511,649.83/year in after-tax income after 10 years on $10,000

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Lazy Portfolio Split Optimizer

What's the optimal mix of SMHD + RYLD for your $10,000?

SMHD: 50%RYLD: 50%

100% RYLD50/50100% SMHD

Portfolio after 10yr

$1.03M

Annual income

$303,557.84/yr

Blended yield

29.50%

🏛️

Copy Congress — What Are Politicians Buying?

Senate & House STOCK Act disclosures (last 90 days)

SMHD buys

RYLD buys

No recent congressional trades found for SMHD or RYLD in the last 90 days.

STOCK Act mandates disclosure within 45 days of transaction. Data via FMP.Full tracker →

MetricSMHDRYLD

Forward yield	84.39% ✓	12.14%
Annual dividend / share	$2.00 ✓	$1.81
Payout ratio	50%	50%
1-year div growth	0%	0%
5-year div CAGR	0%	0%
Portfolio after 10y	$2.01M	$44.5K ✓
Annual income after 10y	$604,528.33 ✓	$2,587.35
Total dividends collected	$1.76M	$18.8K ✓
Payment frequency	quarterly	quarterly
Sector	Stock	ETF

Year-by-year: SMHD vs RYLD ($10,000, DRIP)

Year	SMHD Portfolio	SMHD Income/yr	RYLD Portfolio	RYLD Income/yr	Gap
1← crossover	$19,139	$8,438.82	$11,914	$1,213.65	+$7.2K → SMHD
2	$35,573	$15,094.30	$14,099	$1,351.30	+$21.5K → SMHD
3	$64,283	$26,219.99	$16,580	$1,494.55	+$47.7K → SMHD
4	$113,065	$44,281.87	$19,384	$1,642.61	+$93.7K → SMHD
5	$193,769	$72,790.25	$22,535	$1,794.70	+$171.2K → SMHD
6	$323,920	$116,586.40	$26,063	$1,950.00	+$297.9K → SMHD
7	$528,739	$182,144.59	$29,995	$2,107.69	+$498.7K → SMHD
8	$843,617	$277,866.52	$34,361	$2,266.99	+$809.3K → SMHD
9	$1,317,010	$414,339.81	$39,194	$2,427.12	+$1.28M → SMHD
10	$2,013,729	$604,528.33	$44,525	$2,587.35	+$1.97M → SMHD

SMHD vs RYLD: Complete Analysis 2026

SMHD — Stock

The investment seeks to provides a monthly compounded two times leveraged long exposure to the performance of the index, reduced by the accrued fees. The fund is a series of Monthly Pay 2xLeveraged Exchange Traded Access Securities (ETRACS) linked to the performance of the price return version of the Solactive US Small Cap High Dividend Index. The index is designed to measure the performance of 100 relatively small capitalization, dividend yielding index constituent Securities selected from a universe of qualifying U.S. listed stocks.

Full SMHD Calculator →

RYLD — ETF

The Global X Russell 2000 Covered Call ETF (RYLD) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Cboe Russell 2000 BuyWrite Index.

Full RYLD Calculator →

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⚠️ Educational purposes only. Not financial advice. Congressional trades sourced from SEC STOCK Act filings via FMP. Past performance does not guarantee future results.