Quick Read – SPYI pays a roughly 12% trailing yield, which is about 380 basis points above JEPI’s 8%, and has delivered 19% total return over the past year. – NEOS, the fund family behind QQQI, structures SPYI using Section 1256 index options, taxing gains 60% long-term instead…
as ordinary income. – The JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (NYSEARCA:JEPI) has become a default holding for income investors who want equity exposure with a fatter monthly check than the S&P 500 pays. JEPI writes out-of-the-money calls against a defensive slice of large-cap stocks and layers on equity-linked notes to juice the payout
That formula delivered $4.5713 per share in trailing distributions and a JEPI share price of $56.76, yielding roughly 8%. Solid, but a competing S&P 500 income ETF from the family behind QQQI is currently distributing at a materially higher rate on the same underlying index. That fund is the NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF (CBOE:SPYI), run by NEOS Investments.
It targets the same job JEPI does, monthly income from large-cap US equities, but the mechanics under the hood differ in ways that matter for both yield and taxes. Where JEPI Falls Short for an Income Buyer The income fund’s engine is a portfolio of ELNs written by counterparty banks. Those notes pass through the option premium, but their distributions are treated as ordinary income at the investor’s marginal rate.