QQQI
NEOS Nasdaq 100 High Income ETF
stock NASDAQ 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.

Yes that would be correct, what keeps me from QQQI is that it’s ROC so in downturns doesn’t it get hit harder than most would?
I’m looking for monthly income

Caps the upside? Hardly. Compared to QQQ it's always within .10-.15% upward movement. Is QQQ capped as well? Today QQQI went up .11% and QQQ went up .10%
Usually it trails QQQ by .10% it's the same story everyday when rising.
When it's a down day QQQ goes down further than QQQI due to the options premium.
I guess NASDAQ 100 would have to surge 500+ points for you to see a cap or something.

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.

I would ditch QQQI there are much better choices for your situation

QQQI Ex date is coming up. I’m still bag holding but im putting it out there

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

JEPI doesn't get the tax advantages of something like QQQI either. I used to hold SCHD and JEPI. Now I hold neither and have quadrupled my returns.

I’m committed to investing $500 per paycheck, but I want to buy WHOLE shares for SCHD & QQQI, and I am looking for something fun to invest the change after buying those whole shares. Ideas?

Tere are 2 common problems investors have
Chassing Dividends
Cashing Gowth.
You constantly see investor on r/boglheads swapping investments looking for more growth. But they don't realize doing that increases there risks.And the same problem happened with dividend investors.
The key thing all investors need to do is to fully understand what the what they are investing in and ho the risks of the new investments is acceptable.
Many dividned investors started investing in YieldMax covered call funds. I even considered buying one but was scepticcal due to the high yield. After a year I abandoned the idea because all the pre graphs were trending done consistently. I later learned it was called NAV erosion. And now that I know what it is I can easily spot it in few minutes. So I never Invested in andy YieldMax funds. Instead I invested in QQQI 13% yeild Not even close to the YieldMax but it doesn't have NAV erosion. It has NAV growth instead.

I understand your desire and I was in the same boat. The "Return of Capital" in NEOS funds set off my warning bells. The fact it's 100% ROC makes it a different product than JEPQ. JEPQ is what QQQI pretends to be — a genuine income-generating fund that earns real premium from options and distributes it to shareholders. The cost is capped upside and ordinary income tax treatment. The benefit is honest, earned, sustainable income without the capital recycling illusion. For your situation and bracket it is a fundamentally more appropriate instrument than QQQI for exactly that reason.
In other words QQQI recycles your money to avoid paying higher taxes where JEPQ actually generates a return.
If you pull the 14% distribution from QQQI on an annual basis and the fund stays flat or has minimal gains, you will run out of money.

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?

I feel like DIVO is to similar to SCHD already and if I already have. I already hold VOO for growth and SCHD for consistent returns. what I’m looking for is something a little more aggressive on the dividend side preferably that pays monthly. QQQI is great but the fact that it has preformed well in the 2 years going on 3 since it was created kinda scares me, I feel that it could do really bad in a downturn. But I could be wrong

No QQQI and SPYI are safe in a Roth.

For starters JEPQ and JEPI are exception in the covered call space. JEPQ is not tax efficient. The dividends of JEPQ are tax just like work income which is the highest dividend. The most tax efficient fund generate ROC dividends. I believe all NEOS funds are tax efficient.
ROC dividends are subtracted form the cost basis If theist basis is above zero you are not taxed on the dividned income. If the cost basis is zero the dividned are taxed at the capital gains rate. with is still lower than the ordinary dividend of JEPQ. To calculate how lone these funds are not taxed dividend 100 by the yield. for example QQQI 13% yield 100/ 13= 7.7 years.
Due to the tax efficiency many actually have tax efficient covered call funds in ther taxable account. This and the high yields make them a good way to supplement your work income. if you have CC fund in Roth IRA you will not be able to access the income until age 60. So if you want access to the dividned income now use a taxable account.

MSTY is a YieldMax fund that aims for about 100% yield At that yield any covered call fund will have NAV erosion. QQQI is a NEOS fund and they setup ther funds avoid NAV erosion. Which is also why QQQI has a yield of 14% not the 100% of the YieldMax trash.

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.