What if you could set a monthly passive-income target — say, $3,000 to cover rent and groceries — and watch a single dashboard tell you exactly how close your dividend portfolio already is, and how long until it gets there? That is the idea behind WealthWise's Passive Income Goal Tracker, a free tool built for Canadian DIY investors who want a concrete finish line, not just a growing account balance.
Most portfolio dashboards show you a number: your total value today. That number is useful, but it does not answer the question that actually drives long-term behaviour — am I on track to cover my expenses without working?
Framing your goal as monthly income instead of a lump sum has a few advantages. First, it maps directly to real life: your rent, groceries, and utility bills come in monthly, so a monthly income target is immediately legible. Second, it keeps you focused on yield and dividend growth, not just price appreciation. A stock that drops 10% but raises its dividend 5% is bad for your balance but good for your income goal — and knowing that difference matters.
Third — and this is the insight behind the FIRE movement in Canada — reaching a specific monthly income number is a much cleaner milestone than reaching a "4% withdrawal rate" level. Both are valid, but for dividend investors the income approach is often more intuitive.
The tool lives inside WealthWise's Dividend suite, which aggregates all your dividend-paying holdings across every account you connect or import. Here is what the tracker does step by step.
You enter a single number: the gross monthly passive income you want your portfolio to generate. This can be anything — $500 for a side income, $2,500 to cover half your expenses, or your full household budget for a FIRE scenario. You can update it at any time.
WealthWise calculates your portfolio's projected annual dividend income using the real dividend rates for every position you hold. For Canadian equities it uses declared dividends. For ETFs it uses trailing twelve-month distributions. For US-listed positions it converts at the current USD/CAD exchange rate so the number stays in Canadian dollars.
That annualized figure is divided by 12 to produce your current projected monthly income. This is the number that sits beside your target on the dashboard.
The tracker shows the difference — the income gap — in dollars per month. If your target is $3,000 and your portfolio currently produces $1,840/month, your gap is $1,160. That single number tells you more than your portfolio balance ever could.
You can optionally set an assumed dividend growth rate and a monthly contribution amount. WealthWise then draws a projection curve showing when your portfolio income is expected to close the gap, assuming reinvestment of dividends and continued contributions. It is not a guarantee — it is a planning tool — but it makes abstract goals concrete and motivating.
If you also use the DRIP simulator, you can model the compounding effect of automatic dividend reinvestment on that same income timeline.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Monthly income target | $3,000 |
| Current projected monthly income | $1,840 |
| Monthly income gap | $1,160 |
A sample scenario showing how the target, projected income, and gap relate.
| Metric | What it means | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Projected Monthly Income | Annualized dividends ÷ 12, in CAD | Your current passive income run-rate |
| Monthly Income Gap | Target minus projected income | How far you still need to go |
| Gap Closure % | (Projected ÷ Target) × 100 | Progress toward your goal at a glance |
| Estimated Gap Closure Date | Based on contributions + dividend growth | Gives you a planning horizon |
| Yield on Portfolio | Annual income ÷ total market value | Checks if you are chasing yield unsustainably |
The tool shows gross income by default, because tax treatment varies enormously depending on which account type holds each position. Canadian eligible dividends in a non-registered account benefit from the dividend tax credit, making them more tax-efficient than interest income. US dividends held inside a TFSA face withholding tax. Dividends inside an RRSP or RRIF are fully taxable on withdrawal.
For planning purposes, many users apply a rough personal tax factor mentally — or simply set a higher gross target to account for it. A future version of the tool may allow an after-tax toggle.
Every dividend-paying position contributes; pure growth holdings do not.
WealthWise aggregates income across all account types you connect or import — TFSA, RRSP, non-registered, FHSA, and margin accounts. Every dividend-paying position contributes:
Non-dividend positions (growth stocks, non-distributing ETFs like pure accumulation funds) contribute $0 to the income figure, which is correct — they are growing your capital but not your current income run-rate.
The Passive Income Goal Tracker is particularly powerful for Canadians pursuing financial independence. Rather than reverse-engineering a target portfolio balance from a withdrawal rate, you can work directly in income space:
This approach complements the broader Coast FIRE, Lean FIRE, and Fat FIRE frameworks that Canadian investors use, because it is agnostic to which flavour of FIRE you are chasing — it simply tracks income versus expense coverage.
One note: the projection assumes a stable or growing dividend. Real portfolios experience cuts. Building a diversified income portfolio across sectors and geographies — rather than concentrating in a handful of high-yield names — reduces the risk of a single dividend cut derailing your timeline. The concentration risk score in WealthWise helps you keep an eye on that.
| Target range | What it typically covers |
|---|---|
| $1,000–$1,500/month | Covers a typical car payment, groceries, and utilities — a meaningful supplement to employment income |
| $2,500–$3,500/month | Approximates average Canadian household spending on necessities in many cities outside Toronto and Vancouver |
| $5,000+/month | Comfortable full replacement income in most Canadian cities, though highly personal |
Reference points Canadian investors often use when picking a target — not advice.
There is no universal right answer, but here are some reference points that Canadian investors often use:
These are rough anchors, not advice. Your actual target depends on your expenses, your other income sources, your province, and how conservatively you want to plan. The tool is flexible — update your target as your life changes.
WealthWise is free for Canadian DIY investors. You do not need a premium subscription to access the Passive Income Goal Tracker.
The whole setup takes about five minutes if you use the broker sync. If you prefer a manual approach, a CSV import works equally well.
WealthWise does not execute trades, manage your money, or give personalized advice. It reads your portfolio data and shows you what the math says. The Passive Income Goal Tracker is exactly that: a tracker. The decisions about which dividend stocks or ETFs to buy, how to allocate across account types, and when to retire remain yours. WealthWise just makes sure you always know the score.
Estimate the annual and monthly income your investment generates.
Estimate for information only — dividends aren't guaranteed and can be cut.
Yes. WealthWise aggregates projected dividend income across every account you connect or import, regardless of account type. TFSA, RRSP, non-registered, FHSA, and margin accounts all contribute to your total projected monthly income figure.
The tracker shows gross (pre-tax) income by default. Tax treatment varies significantly depending on whether the holding is in a TFSA, RRSP, or non-registered account, and on the type of income (eligible Canadian dividends vs. US dividends vs. interest). Many users simply set a slightly higher gross target to account for estimated taxes.
For ETFs, WealthWise uses trailing twelve-month distributions to estimate the annual yield. For individual dividend stocks, it uses the most recently declared dividend annualized. All figures are converted to CAD at the current exchange rate.
Absolutely. WealthWise is designed as a companion to Wealthsimple (and Questrade, Disnat, and other Canadian brokers). You can connect via SnapTrade for automatic sync or export your holdings from Wealthsimple and import them as a CSV. WealthWise does not interfere with your brokerage in any way.
No. The projected closure date is a planning estimate based on your inputs (assumed contribution rate and dividend growth rate). Actual results depend on market performance, dividend changes, and your actual saving behaviour. It is a motivational planning tool, not a financial forecast.
Start with WealthWise for free →Educational content. Figures and rules verified against the official sources above; tax amounts change annually.
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