Recently, I hit $5,600 in projected dividend and interest (“passive”) income for 2025. “Projected” means that my broker expects me to earn that much by the end of the year. I’ve collected a little less than half of the projected figure so far this year.
I had set a goal of $5,000 in projected passive income in late 2024. When I checked my brokerage account in January, I was surprised to see that I had already hit – nay, surpassed – my goal.
Now, of course, projected is not the same as earned: companies sometimes cut their dividends. However, my dividends for the year are so far on track to hit the projection I’d seen earlier in the year, and guaranteed investment certificate (GIC) interest is almost always paid in full. So, it looks like I’m on track to collect my $5,600 by the end of the year. In this article, I’ll explain how I structured my RRSP and TFSAs to earn this passive income.
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Guaranteed Investment Certificates
A large chunk of my $5,600 in projected 2025 passive income comes from a GIC that will renew later this year. The GIC costs $54,000 and will pay $1,944 in interest at maturity. So, I will collect a 3.6% rate of interest on the GIC. I have another $234 in interest coming in from smaller GIC investments.
| INVESTMENT | RECENT PRICE | NUMBER OF UNITS | INTEREST | TOTAL PAYOUT | Yield | FREQUENCY |
| TD Bank GIC | $1 | 54,000 | $0.036 per one dollar unit | $1,944 | 1,944/54,000 = 3.6% | Annual |
Unfortunately, GIC yields are much lower now than they were when I bought the GIC in question. If I invested $54,000 at today’s typical GIC interest rate (2.5%), I’d collect a mere $1,350. So my position cannot be created at the same level of risk today. That’s a downer; however, there is always the possibility of taking on a little more risk in hopes of getting a higher return. With that in mind, let’s now turn to equities.
Stock market investments
The biggest chunk of my $5,600 in projected passive income in 2025 comes from dividends. These are cash payments made by companies to their shareholders. I have a diversified stock portfolio consisting of 10 individual stocks and a handful of ETFs. Most of them pay dividends.
An example of a stock that is making a major contribution to my passive income in 2025 is The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX:TD). I invested a sizeable chunk of my money in it when it crashed to $74 late last year. I later bought more at $80. The stock has outperformed the market so far this year. I don’t know whether the outperformance will continue, but I reckon I’ll keep collecting the dividends I expect from TD.
How much money could you get in dividends from TD today? While the stock no longer has the high yield it had when I bought it at $74 (6%), it still has quite a bit of dividend potential. Here’s how much you’d get if you invested $100,000 in it today:
| COMPANY | RECENT PRICE | NUMBER OF SHARES | DIVIDEND | TOTAL PAYOUT | FREQUENCY |
| TD Bank | $89.93 | 1,113 | $1.05 per quarter ($4.20 per year) | $1,168.65 per quarter ($4,674.60 per year) | Quarterly |
As you can see, you can earn quite a bit of passive income with stocks like TD. Such stocks are the main way I got to $5,600 in projected passive income for 2025.
