SPYI
NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF
stock BATS ETF

Google says
Merrill Lynch (including Merrill Edge) restricts the purchase of IWMI (NEOS Russell 2000 High Income ETF) because it is a actively managed fund that incorporates options, which triggers Merrill's internal "unique risk".Merrill enforces a strict Block List for certain Exchange Traded products. They do this for specific ETFs (like those from NEOS, Avantis, or other active managers) to prevent retail investors from purchasing funds that Merrill deems to have unique tracking errors, higher expense ratios, lower liquidity, or more volatile performance. Even if you have been able to buy other NEOS funds (like SPYI or QQQI), Merrill's classification of the options overlay on small-cap stocks (via IWMI) has placed this specific ETF on their restricted list.

I hold QQQI, SPYI, and JEPQ.

Have a look at my favorite Investment Income YouTuber : [https://www.youtube.com/@armchairincomechannel](https://www.youtube.com/@armchairincomechannel)
After consuming a good amount of his content you should get a good idea for your 'retirement number'.
To generate $60k with the NEOS funds at the current Yields you'd need the following invested:
**BTCI** $180,000 (28% yield)
**SPYI** $416,666 (12% yield)
**QQQI** $357,142 (14% yield)
But Typically people spread their portfolio around to several investments, they don't go all-in on a single fund.

QQQI's derivative income (covered call strategy) is based on the NASDAQ 100 index. The covered call funds you initially discussed, JEPI, is based on the S&P 500 index. Funds comparable to JEPI would include SPYI and GPIX. funds comparable to QQQI would be JEPQ and GPIQ.
The NASDQ 100 is often considered to be more risky than the S&P 500 but has had greater returns. Although covered call funds thrive off of volitity, the value of the underlying holdings affects the funds ability to generate income. A stock market crash followed by a stagnant trading environment would decimate covered call funds.
If you do not need income right now I would find different sectors to diversify into instead of covered call funds:
AMLP
O
MAIN
SCHY

Claude can honestly do a very good job of answering this. Throw in qualifiers like “limited NAV drawdown” and “mixed dividend income sources”. This will show you a mix of stable income, tax advantaged tickers like SCHD and SPYI, trending their NAV drawdown and return to find the right blend to get you where you need while limiting risk.

JEPI (and other ROC CC's) is for income, something akin to a paycheck that you no longer get after retirement.
SCHD is for growth with a focus on higher dividend securities.
I get that it took OP a while to figure that out but we have access to the internet now. We need to do some research instead of just doom scrolling insta and tick tock.
7% yield is too good to be true - SPYI, QQQI - those are even higher, we need to ask why and then maybe plug that into a search engine and get educated.

Not necessarily.
A 25% price drop does not automatically mean 25% less income. What matters is the distribution per share, not just the market price.
For example, in my 2026 tracker:
* BIT has paid $0.1237/share every month.
* PFFA has paid $0.1725/share every month.
* UTF actually increased from $0.155 to $0.165/month.
* SPYI and QQQI fluctuate, but the payments have stayed in a fairly tight range so far.
So if the fund price drops but the cents-per-share distribution stays the same, my cash income does not immediately drop. The displayed yield actually goes up because the price is lower.
The real risk is later: if NAV damage, credit losses, or weak option income cause the fund to cut the per-share distribution. That’s why I track the actual monthly/quarterly payment per share, not just headline yield.

Sounds like you already have a stable base (VOO and SCHD). If you want more aggressive income producers I like the QQQI/SPYI combo if it’s in a taxable account. It’s 1256 treatment (60% long 40% short) regardless of holding time.
Need more info though, are you looking for total wealth or wanting monthly income?

No QQQI and SPYI are safe in a Roth.

Google says
Merrill Lynch (including Merrill Edge) restricts the purchase of IWMI (NEOS Russell 2000 High Income ETF) because it is a actively managed fund that incorporates options, which triggers Merrill's internal "unique risk".Merrill enforces a strict Block List for certain Exchange Traded products. They do this for specific ETFs (like those from NEOS, Avantis, or other active managers) to prevent retail investors from purchasing funds that Merrill deems to have unique tracking errors, higher expense ratios, lower liquidity, or more volatile performance. Even if you have been able to buy other NEOS funds (like SPYI or QQQI), Merrill's classification of the options overlay on small-cap stocks (via IWMI) has placed this specific ETF on their restricted list.

I hold QQQI, SPYI, and JEPQ.

Have a look at my favorite Investment Income YouTuber : [https://www.youtube.com/@armchairincomechannel](https://www.youtube.com/@armchairincomechannel)
After consuming a good amount of his content you should get a good idea for your 'retirement number'.
To generate $60k with the NEOS funds at the current Yields you'd need the following invested:
**BTCI** $180,000 (28% yield)
**SPYI** $416,666 (12% yield)
**QQQI** $357,142 (14% yield)
But Typically people spread their portfolio around to several investments, they don't go all-in on a single fund.

QQQI's derivative income (covered call strategy) is based on the NASDAQ 100 index. The covered call funds you initially discussed, JEPI, is based on the S&P 500 index. Funds comparable to JEPI would include SPYI and GPIX. funds comparable to QQQI would be JEPQ and GPIQ.
The NASDQ 100 is often considered to be more risky than the S&P 500 but has had greater returns. Although covered call funds thrive off of volitity, the value of the underlying holdings affects the funds ability to generate income. A stock market crash followed by a stagnant trading environment would decimate covered call funds.
If you do not need income right now I would find different sectors to diversify into instead of covered call funds:
AMLP
O
MAIN
SCHY

Claude can honestly do a very good job of answering this. Throw in qualifiers like “limited NAV drawdown” and “mixed dividend income sources”. This will show you a mix of stable income, tax advantaged tickers like SCHD and SPYI, trending their NAV drawdown and return to find the right blend to get you where you need while limiting risk.

JEPI (and other ROC CC's) is for income, something akin to a paycheck that you no longer get after retirement.
SCHD is for growth with a focus on higher dividend securities.
I get that it took OP a while to figure that out but we have access to the internet now. We need to do some research instead of just doom scrolling insta and tick tock.
7% yield is too good to be true - SPYI, QQQI - those are even higher, we need to ask why and then maybe plug that into a search engine and get educated.

Not necessarily.
A 25% price drop does not automatically mean 25% less income. What matters is the distribution per share, not just the market price.
For example, in my 2026 tracker:
* BIT has paid $0.1237/share every month.
* PFFA has paid $0.1725/share every month.
* UTF actually increased from $0.155 to $0.165/month.
* SPYI and QQQI fluctuate, but the payments have stayed in a fairly tight range so far.
So if the fund price drops but the cents-per-share distribution stays the same, my cash income does not immediately drop. The displayed yield actually goes up because the price is lower.
The real risk is later: if NAV damage, credit losses, or weak option income cause the fund to cut the per-share distribution. That’s why I track the actual monthly/quarterly payment per share, not just headline yield.

Sounds like you already have a stable base (VOO and SCHD). If you want more aggressive income producers I like the QQQI/SPYI combo if it’s in a taxable account. It’s 1256 treatment (60% long 40% short) regardless of holding time.
Need more info though, are you looking for total wealth or wanting monthly income?

No QQQI and SPYI are safe in a Roth.

there are a lot of people that strongly distrust high dividned funds. Not because they know it will happen but simply because other people have told then to distrust high yield funds. I have it and its sister fund SPYI Both funds since inception have not had any nav or principle erosion while the market has had big swing due to tariffs and the iran war. And infant the NAV a principle has grown.
Investing in QQQI will quickly get you the protection you want but if you don't need the income reinvest the dividend into other fund to reduce the risk.

JEPI and JEPQ are what some call the "Second Generation" of Covered Call ETFs. The number of ETFs and the Strategy has grown since then leaving these to under-perform compared to what is now the third generation of CC ETFs.

If you want to stay index based (which I think is best) then I would look at GPIX/GPIQ, SPYI/QQQI, TSPY/TDAQ. The first in each set being based off the S&P 500 and the second in each set being based off the Nasdaq 100.