JEPI vs QYLD: Dividend/Income Calculator Comparison
JEPI (JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF) and QYLD (Global X NASDAQ 100 Covered Call ETF) are both covered-call income funds that write very different call strategies, so this page compares their ~8.5% and ~11.8% distributions, NAV behavior, and tax under one shared scenario.
JEPI
QYLD
Set one scenario below — the same contribution, horizon, and account run through both funds, so the numbers are comparable rather than pulled from two separate defaults. Each result is a range, not a single figure: forward growth is an editorial preset assumption, not a prediction.
Base-scenario path for each fund at your horizon. This is the pairing where NAV erosion is not a dash: both funds carry a modeled NAV drag from the total-return cap, QYLD far more so, so read the value line alongside the income line. After-tax reflects the taxable account — ordinary-income tax for JEPI, return-of-capital basis reduction for QYLD — and reads as a dash inside an IRA or Roth.
| Fund | Annual income | Portfolio value | After-tax (if sold) | Yield on cost | NAV erosion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JEPI | — | — | — | — | — |
Which one fits whom
Both funds sell call options to manufacture a high monthly payout, but they do it so differently that they suit different risk appetites. JEPI yields around 8.5% and writes partial, further-out-of-the-money S&P 500 calls through equity-linked notes, so it keeps some of the market's upside and its price growth is slowed rather than fully capped. QYLD yields around 11.8% but writes calls on close to 100% of its Nasdaq-100 book at the money every month, which caps essentially all appreciation and has left its share price grinding sideways to lower. If you want the larger check and accept a flat-to-eroding balance, that is QYLD's bargain; if you want high income with some room for the balance to grow, that is JEPI's. Neither is better in the abstract — the calculator pairs each yield with the price behavior that actually finances it, so a bigger distribution does not read as a bigger outcome.
Two covered-call strategies, not one
The gap between an ~8.5% and an ~11.8% yield is a direct result of how aggressively each fund sells its upside. JEPI holds a lower-volatility basket of roughly 130 large-cap U.S. stocks and overwrites only part of the portfolio with further-out-of-the-money S&P 500 calls, largely through equity-linked notes — a design that collects a smaller premium but leaves the equity sleeve room to appreciate, which is why its projection uses a modest 2% price-growth assumption rather than zero. QYLD follows the Cboe Nasdaq-100 BuyWrite index and writes at-the-money calls on nearly the whole book, capturing a larger premium but surrendering essentially all of the index's rise, so its price-growth anchor is 0%. The higher yield is not a free lunch — it is the price of selling more of the upside, and the two funds sit at different points on that same dial.
NAV erosion is where they split hardest
This is the metric that separates the two most sharply, and it is why the summary above does not read a dash for either. JEPI's distribution is premium-driven and swings with volatility, but it is largely funded by option income rather than by handing back principal. QYLD's payout has historically been about 95% return-of-capital: the tell is the gap between its ~11.8% headline distribution and its roughly 0.11% SEC yield, which is the slice actually earned as income — the rest is premium and your own capital coming back. That return-of-capital is the same mechanism eroding the NAV, and QYLD's per-share payout has actually trended down over time, from roughly $0.18–0.23 a share in 2021 toward the $0.17 range by 2026, which is why its distribution-growth anchor is mildly negative while JEPI's is flat. Reinvesting a distribution that is partly your own principal compounds income faster than it compounds real wealth.
Tax, fees, and the honest bottom line
The two are taxed by different mechanisms, and neither is simple. JEPI's option-premium income is largely ordinary income, taxed at your marginal rate every year, a heavier treatment than qualified dividends receive — which is why an income fund like this is often held inside an IRA or Roth. QYLD's roughly 95% return-of-capital instead lowers your cost basis and defers tax until you sell or until basis reaches zero, with the earned slice splitting 60/40 under §1256; that can look tax-friendly in the near term even as the same return-of-capital erodes NAV. Fees also differ — JEPI runs 0.35% and QYLD 0.60%, both well above a plain index fund because each is an active option strategy. The result is a trade-off between more income and more erosion, not a winner: read the value line next to the income line before deciding. For the full single-fund detail, see the JEPI dividend calculator and the QYLD dividend calculator.
Compare & go deeper
- JEPI dividend calculator
The single-fund projection with year-by-year breakdown and yield-on-cost.
- QYLD dividend calculator
The single-fund projection under the same honest after-tax engine.
- Qualified vs ordinary dividends
Why the tax character of a distribution changes the after-tax number.
- All ticker dividend calculators
The full set across income, dividend-growth, and broad funds.