Core education

16 explainers

2026-08-23

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Core explainers

The working knowledge for income investors.

Eleven Days From "Bloodbath" to All-Time High — Why the V Is the Worst Shape for a Covered-Call Fund

The index round-tripped to even within days. The fund writing calls on it didn't — and that gap is the strategy working exactly as designed.

The Healthy-Fund Screen, All the Way to What It Actually Pays You After Tax

Sort income ETFs by what's real income rather than your own money coming back, and something awkward happens — nearly every fund gives the same answer.

Buying Yield at a Stretched Valuation: Does a Covered-Call Sleeve Actually Help?

With the Shiller CAPE near dot-com levels, a 10% covered-call yield looks like a defensive move. Here's what it actually protects — and what it doesn't.

Magic Money Tree? Stress-Testing the Weekly-Pay Funds Against Just Owning SPY

A 40% 'yield' that pays every Friday sounds unbeatable — until you measure total return against a boring index fund. The gap is where these funds quietly lose.

Your Fund Just Cut Its Payout: The Anatomy of a Distribution Cut

YieldMax's ULTY cut its weekly payout 10.6% while reporting a 100%-income distribution. A cut and a clean payment at once — here's how to read what it means.

JEPI and JEPQ Have Successors. Here's What ROCQ and ROCY Actually Change.

Same managers, same price as JEPI and JEPQ. What changes is the options structure and the tax treatment — a little less yield now for more upside kept.

The Durable-Fund Screen: Ranking High-Yield ETFs by Risk-Adjusted Return, Not Yield

Rank high-yield ETFs by their headline payout and you'll reliably sort them worst to best. Here's the five-signal screen that ranks them by what investors actually keep.

Money Fund or Covered-Call Fund? Where Your Income Should Sit as Rates Climb

The 10%-vs-3.6% spread looks like free money. It isn't the same unit, the same total return, or the same risk to your principal — here's how to choose.

Your 8.5% Yield Is Really 5.5%: How Covered-Call ETF Distributions Are Taxed

Two funds can advertise the same yield and leave a high earner with very different after-tax income. The headline number is pre-tax. Here is what actually decides what you keep.

Your Income ETF Is Closing — What Actually Happens to Your Money

YieldMax is liquidating four ETFs. Here's what a fund closure actually does to your money — and the moves worth making before the date.

NAV Erosion: When a High Yield Is Quietly Eating Your Principal

A fund pays 12% and its price drifts lower every year. Those aren't two separate facts — they're usually the same one. Here is how to tell benign erosion from the destructive kind.

Single-Stock Income ETFs: What That 65% Yield Is Actually Buying You

A fund advertises a 65% yield on one ticker. You are buying neither the stock nor a fortune — you are buying an option-premium stream on a very volatile name, and capping its upside to get it.

Three Yields, Three Meanings: Distribution Rate vs. SEC Yield vs. Total Return

A fund can advertise a 12% yield and report a 0.05% yield to regulators on the same day. Both are accurate. The gap between them is the number that matters.

Your Fund Mailed Your Own Money Back: How to Read a 19a-1 Notice

A notice says 98% of your distribution was return of capital. Before you panic, here is how to read it, and the one other number that tells you what it really means.

The 0DTE Income ETF, Decoded: Where the Friday Check Really Comes From

A fund that pays a 40% 'yield' and mails you a check every Friday sounds like the easiest retirement decision you'll ever make. Most of that check isn't investment income — it's your own money, on a schedule.

Earned or Returned? The One Test That Tells You Where Your Yield Comes From

A 12% yield and a 19% yield can look like the same kind of win. They're not — and the difference is usually where the cash comes from, not the headline rate.