Dividend calculator for income ETFs: QQQI, JEPQ, JEPI, SCHD, ULTY and more
Pick a fund and an amount to see a year of payouts at the latest rate, the last twelve months of payouts, and how much it takes to reach a monthly income goal. Beside each answer: the fund's total return against its index, because a payout is not a return.
Short answers
How do you calculate dividend income from an ETF?
Multiply the shares you hold by the latest payout per share and by the number of payouts a year: monthly funds pay 12 times, weekly funds about 52, SCHD 4. The calculator above does it with each fund's real payout record through November 13, 2026, and also shows what the same shares received over the last twelve months, which differs because payouts change.
How much do I need to invest to make 1,000 a month in dividends?
Divide 12,000 by the fund's yield at its latest payout. At QQQI's latest rate (about 14.9% a year of the price) that is roughly 80,000; at JEPI's (about 7.2%) roughly 167,000; at SCHD's (about 3.0%) roughly 400,000. The higher-yield funds need less money for the same cash, but in our measurements every one of them returned less than its index with payouts reinvested, so part of that cash is growth the fund gave up.
Is a high dividend yield a good return?
Not by itself. ULTY's payouts over the last twelve months came to about 102% of its share price, yet its total return with every payout reinvested was about -1.2% a year since launch while QQQ returned about 18.2%, because the share price fell about 89%. Judge an income fund on total return against its index, then look at the yield.
The calculator
Income calculator: pick a fund and an amount (or a number of shares) to see a year of payouts at the latest rate, the last twelve months of payouts, and how much it would take to reach a monthly income goal. It runs in your browser with JavaScript on. The figures, through the 2026-11-13 close, with total return measured with every payout reinvested, from each fund's first close:
| Fund | Payouts a year | Trailing 12 month yield | Total return a year | Index | Index a year | Share price since launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QQQI | 12 | 14.9% | 16.2% | QQQ | 18.9% | 2.6% |
| JEPQ | 12 | 12.4% | 14.2% | QQQ | 18.0% | 10.0% |
| GPIQ | 12 | 10.9% | 22.9% | QQQ | 25.6% | 36.7% |
| QDTE | 52 | 45.9% | 17.0% | QQQ | 17.7% | -42.9% |
| QYLD | 12 | 12.1% | 8.9% | QQQ | 19.1% | -23.4% |
| SPYI | 12 | 12.0% | 14.2% | SPY | 18.0% | 6.8% |
| JEPI | 12 | 7.9% | 11.4% | SPY | 17.2% | 16.1% |
| GPIX | 12 | 8.4% | 21.5% | SPY | 23.5% | 40.0% |
| XYLD | 12 | 10.3% | 8.4% | SPY | 14.8% | -4.8% |
| DIVO | 12 | 6.4% | 12.5% | SPY | 14.7% | 89.7% |
| SCHD | 4 | 2.9% | 13.8% | SPY | 14.8% | 184.3% |
| IWMI | 12 | 14.8% | 14.7% | IWM | 15.8% | -2.3% |
| MSTY | 52 | 156.7% | 9.5% | MSTR | 17.9% | -89.6% |
| NVDY | 52 | 65.1% | 41.9% | NVDA | 64.3% | -55.5% |
| TSLY | 52 | 74.7% | 9.2% | TSLA | 21.0% | -89.4% |
| CONY | 52 | 138.2% | 1.2% | COIN | 15.8% | -93.2% |
| ULTY | 53 | 101.9% | -1.2% | QQQ | 18.2% | -89.4% |
| BTCI | 12 | 34.5% | -0.3% | IBIT | 1.1% | -44.1% |
Why the yield and the return differ
A fund's payout comes from three places: dividends from the stocks it holds, premium from the options it sells, and, when those fall short, its own capital. The first two are income. The third is your money coming back to you, and it shows up as a falling share price. So the number to check is total return: the price change plus every payout, reinvested on the day it was paid.
Measured that way from each fund's first close, none of the 17 option income funds in the table beat what it tracks. The index-based ones came closest: GPIQ about 22.9% a year against QQQ's 25.6%, GPIX 21.5% against SPY's 23.5%, QQQI 16.2% against 18.9%. The single-stock and basket funds trailed far behind: MSTY about 9.5% a year against MSTR's 17.9%, CONY about 1.2% against COIN's 15.8%, ULTY about -1.2% against QQQ's 18.2%. The monthly dividend ETF list has the long-run comparison.
Reading the payout figures
"A year at the latest payout" assumes every payout for a year matches the most recent one. It is a cash-flow estimate, not a forecast: most of these funds set the payout as a share of the price, so it falls after a sell-off. QQQI has paid between 1.16% and 1.28% of its price every month; JEPQ and JEPI move with volatility; the weekly funds have changed the most. ULTY's weekly payout fell from 0.64 a share in November 2025 to 0.243 in November 2026.
"Paid over the last 12 months" is what the same number of shares actually received. When it is far above the latest-rate figure, the payout has been shrinking.
SCHD as the comparison
SCHD is not an option income fund. It holds dividend-paying stocks and pays four times a year, about 2.9% of its price over the last twelve months. It is the usual benchmark income investors weigh these funds against, so it is in the calculator. Since 2016 SCHD returned about 13.8% a year with dividends reinvested against SPY's 14.8%, and its share price grew about 184%. The SCHD dividend calculator has its payout record.
How we measured
Daily closing prices and distributions from Yahoo Finance through the November 13, 2026 close, split adjusted. Total return reinvests each distribution on its ex-date. Each fund is compared with what it is measured against on exactly the same days, from the fund's first close. No taxes or trading costs are included, and past returns do not predict future ones. This is a measurement, not advice for anyone's account.
Measured from daily closes and distributions, every payout reinvested, each fund against its index on the same days. Past returns do not predict future ones. This is education, not a recommendation to buy or sell anything.