NEOS Nasdaq 100 High Income ETF: its payout record since 2025, the income it would have paid someone living on it, and the amount a monthly income takes at today’s yield.
Since January 2024, QQQI’s price rose 2.4% while it paid out 41.1% of its starting price in distributions.
Over the last 12 months QQQI paid $7.62 a share, a 14.93% yield at today’s price, in 12 monthly payments. At that yield, $1,000 a month before taxes takes about $80,400 invested.
High payouts can come partly out of the share price. “Price change” is what the shares did; “paid out” is the distributions as a share of the starting price; “income spent” is the two together, what someone living on the payouts got. An ETF’s price stays close to its net asset value (NAV), so the price stands in for NAV.
| Period | Price change | Paid out | Income spent | Reinvested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since Jan 30, 2024 | +2.4% | 41.1% | +43.5% | +51.5% |
How QQQI compares: every option-income and high-payout fund, price kept against paid out →
The amount invested that would have paid each monthly income over the last 12 months, at QQQI’s 14.93% trailing yield, before taxes. Yields move, so the second column uses its lowest calendar-year yield of the last five years (14.22% in 2025).
| Monthly income | At today’s yield | At the 2025 yield |
|---|---|---|
| $500 a month ($6,000 a year) | $40,200 | $42,200 |
| $1,000 a month ($12,000 a year) | $80,400 | $84,400 |
| $2,000 a month ($24,000 a year) | $160,800 | $168,800 |
| $5,000 a month ($60,000 a year) | $401,900 | $421,900 |
What $100,000 invested at the start of each year would have paid during that year, and the same income in today’s dollars. Years with a payout at least 5% below the year before are marked.
| Year | Per share | Income on $100K | In today’s dollars | Price that year | Total return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $7.44 | $14,224 | $16,208 | +3.0% | +18.8% |
$100,000 invested in QQQI on Jan 2, 2025, every payout spent and nothing reinvested.
Every month. Payment dates shift a little from year to year; the fund announces each one shortly before it is paid.
Most of the payout comes from selling options. That part does not qualify for the lower dividend rate: it is usually taxed as ordinary income, and some funds pay part as return of capital, which lowers your cost basis instead. The fund’s year-end tax form (1099-DIV) splits it. Inside an IRA or 401(k), none of it is taxed until you withdraw.
The yield here is what the fund paid over the last 12 months, divided by today’s price. Future payouts depend on what the fund earns, which for option-income funds follows market volatility.
Fees, holdings, returns and downturns are on the QQQI page.
ReadyAimRetire builds a month-by-month income plan from all your accounts, Social Security and pensions, and shows how long it lasts, before and after taxes.
About $80,400, at its 14.93% yield over the 12 months to November 2026, before taxes. Yields move: at its lowest calendar-year yield of the last five years (14.22% in 2025) it would take $84,400.
Every month.
Not by 5% or more in any full calendar year from 2025 to 2025.
Most of the payout comes from selling options. That part does not qualify for the lower dividend rate: it is usually taxed as ordinary income, and some funds pay part as return of capital, which lowers your cost basis instead. The fund’s year-end tax form (1099-DIV) splits it. Inside an IRA or 401(k), none of it is taxed until you withdraw (and in a Roth, not then either, if the rules are met).
Since January 2024 its price rose 2.4% while it paid out 41.1% of the starting price. It kept its price while paying out. (An ETF’s price stays close to its net asset value, so the price stands in for NAV.)
For education only, not a recommendation to buy or sell any fund. Past payouts do not predict future payouts.