Setting up a passive income stream can be one of the best things you do. These income streams require little time or energy to maintain, and ideally, they’ll set you up with a lifetime of extra income.
So, if you’ve got $10,000, here is a dividend stock to buy for $74.08 in monthly passive income.
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Monthly passive income to the max
I’d like to begin by revisiting the best way to accumulate a passive income stream – start by opening up a tax-free savings account (TFSA) if you don’t have one. Check your balance if you do. And make sure that you plan to maximize your allowable contributions. This allows you to maximize your income from whatever dividend stock you invest in. Once this is all in order, the task becomes finding the right dividend stocks to buy. In this goal, the key is to maximize your income, while also making sure that the risk you take on is reasonable.
The risk/reward trade-off is the principle that the more risk you take, the higher the potential reward. Simple enough. The hard part is finding that sweet spot where the reward is big but the risk is not as high as what’s implied by the reward.
Telus: One of the best dividend stocks today for passive income
Enter Telus Corp. (TSX:T), one of Canada’s giant telecom companies that has come upon difficult and uncertain times. Telus stock is yielding a very generous 8.9% today. This yield implies a lot of things. It implies that maybe the dividend will have to be reduced yet again. It also implies that the business and its cash flows are in trouble.
But I have a different opinion. While I believe that there is some risk (as there always is in investing), the risk/reward trade-off is very attractive. Telus is not some fly-by-night company taking on excessive risk or mismanaging its operations. It’s a true high-quality company that has hit some troubles that were out of its control. And the way that Telus is handling these troubles speaks volumes to the quality of the company.
Telus is focusing on what it does best – bundled services across mobile and home solutions. This focus extends to its pure fibre connectivity as well as AI-powered home solutions and tech-enabled healthcare. In Telus’ latest quarter, the company posted industry-leading customer connections as well as industry-leading metrics. For example, Telus posted an industry-leading churn rate of 0.91%, the 12th year that it was below 1%.
The path to reliable passive income from Telus
There are more reasons why I think that Telus is a dividend stock to bet on for a monthly passive income stream of $74. Firstly, the company provided a very bullish three-year cash flow target – free cash flow growth at a minimum compound annual growth rate of 10%. While this doesn’t eliminate the risk, it’s being backed by management, which is tying its own personal financial health to the company’s performance.
For example, during the months of November and December 2025, Telus’ senior management, including CEO Doug Entwhistle, bought 357,090 shares in the open market. This equates to more than $6.2 million worth of shares. And the CEO has committed to being paid entirely in stock for an indefinite period of time. In addition to this, the company bought back 2.3 million shares at an average price of $17.39. These purchases are part of $500 million worth of common shares that Telus is entitled to buy back in its share repurchase program.
Finally, Telus is in the process of looking at different options to monetize its very successful Telus Health operations. This would go a long way in allowing Telus to reduce its debt load, thus inspiring confidence amongst investors. And driving up the Telus’ stock price.
The bottom line
To summarize, Telus stock currently has a dividend yield of almost 9%. This company has a strong business with different levers to pull to come out of its current situation. In short, there’s always risk, but the potential reward makes Telus stock a risk worth taking for monthly passive income.
