Quick Read

• Building $94,800 annually from six holdings requires somewhere between $1.5M and $1.7M and disciplined account placement to stay below Medicare's IRMAA surcharge threshold.

• Qualified dividends still count fully toward MAGI despite favorable tax rates, and account location rather than investment selection determines whether surcharges apply.

• ARCC and SGOV belong in tax-advantaged accounts first, while QQQI's return-of-capital treatment makes it uniquely suited for taxable accounts.

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To pull in $7,900 a month, or roughly $94,800 per year, from just six holdings, you'd need to have somewhere between $1.5 million and $1.7 million, depending on how you mix things. This is because the yields across these pieces range from 1.7% on the dividend-growth side to roughly 14% on the options-income side.

Currently, the portfolio holds three broad dividend ETFs (Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (NYSEARCA:VIG), Vanguard High Dividend Yield (NYSEARCA:VYM), and Fidelity High Dividend ETF (NYSEARCA:FDVV)), a covered-call sleeve in NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF (NASDAQ:QQQI), a business development company (a lender to middle-market firms) in Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC), and a Treasury sleeve in iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:SGOV).

IRMAA's Uncomfortable Truth

The Medicare income-related monthly adjustment amount, the surcharge tacked onto Part B and Part D premiums for higher-income beneficiaries, is set from modified adjusted gross income two years in arrears. Essentially, every kind of investment income counts. Qualified dividends count. Ordinary dividends count. Treasury interest counts. Even municipal interest, which this portfolio does not hold, gets added back. Picking better dividend tickers does not sidestep the surcharge. A reader who believes otherwise will make an expensive mistake.

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What actually decides whether this $94,800 lands in the calculation is where the shares sit. Income inside a Roth never appears in MAGI, either while it compounds or when withdrawn. Income in a taxable brokerage counts the year it is paid, spent, or reinvested. Income inside a traditional tax-deferred account stays out while it compounds, then counts in full when withdrawn. That three-way split is the whole strategy.