This is one of the messier screens I track because the funds are all related to the S&P 500, but they are not trying to do the same job.
Some rows are plain market exposure, some are option-income sleeves, some are weekly-distribution products, and some are leveraged tools. So I would not read this as a ranking. I read it more as a role check: if two funds are both tied to the S&P 500, what is each one actually doing inside a portfolio?
The current list includes GPIX, JEPI, MAXJ, RSP, SDTY, SPY, SPYH, SPYI, SSO, TSPY, UPRO, VOO, WDTE, XDTE, XSPI, and XYLD.
Some rows are incomplete where the visible snapshot did not include enough data. Those values are shown as N/A.
| Fund Ticker | Dividend TTM | Price CAGR | Total Return CAGR | Payout Support Risk | Stability | Dividend TTM (MoM) | Price Growth (MoM) | Total Return CAGR (MoM) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPIX | 8.60% | 10.79% | N/A | NO | LOW | 8.11% (+0.49pp) | 13.72% (-2.93pp) | N/A |
| JEPI | 8.40% | 1.25% | N/A | NO | MID | 7.91% (+0.49pp) | 3.64% (-2.39pp) | N/A |
| MAXJ | 1.01% | 6.56% | N/A | NO | MID | 1.00% (+0.01pp) | 7.40% (-0.84pp) | N/A |
| RSP | 1.62% | 9.89% | N/A | NO | LOW | 1.53% (+0.09pp) | 11.82% (-1.93pp) | N/A |
| SDTY | 27.60% | -18.37% | N/A | YES | LOW | 25.62% (+1.98pp) | -13.91% (-4.46pp) | N/A |
| SPY | 1.14% | 16.68% | N/A | NO | LOW | 1.06% (+0.08pp) | 20.07% (-3.39pp) | N/A |
| SPYH | 7.83% | 9.24% | N/A | NO | MID | 6.87% (+0.96pp) | 15.62% (-6.38pp) | N/A |
| SPYI | 12.50% | 1.23% | N/A | NO | MID | 11.84% (+0.66pp) | 3.77% (-2.54pp) | N/A |
| SSO | 0.82% | -7.38% | N/A | NO | LOW | 0.68% (+0.14pp) | 35.08% (-7.70pp) | N/A |
| TSPY | 16.38% | -3.27% | N/A | SUSPECT | LOW | 13.94% (+2.44pp) | 1.85% (-5.12pp) | N/A |
| UPRO | 1.04% | 35.98% | N/A | NO | LOW | 0.84% (+0.20pp) | 48.33% (-12.35pp) | N/A |
| VOO | 1.19% | 16.69% | N/A | NO | LOW | 1.12% (+0.07pp) | 20.12% (-3.43pp) | N/A |
| WDTE | 36.68% | -25.55% | N/A | YES | LOW | 36.69% (-0.01pp) | -24.22% (-1.33pp) | N/A |
| XDTE | 38.18% | -15.87% | N/A | YES | LOW | 37.16% (+1.02pp) | -13.64% (-2.23pp) | N/A |
| XSPI | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| XYLD | 10.98% | -1.14% | N/A | NO | MID | 10.58% (+0.40pp) | 0.46% (-1.60pp) | N/A |
What I noticed
The first split I would make is between market-exposure funds and income-sleeve funds. SPY and VOO are low-yield, price-growth-oriented rows: SPY shows 1.14% Dividend TTM with 16.68% Price CAGR, while VOO shows 1.19% Dividend TTM with 16.69% Price CAGR. That is very different from SPYI at 12.50% Dividend TTM with 1.23% Price CAGR, or JEPI at 8.40% Dividend TTM with 1.25% Price CAGR.
That difference is why I would not ask whether SPYI or JEPI is simply “better” than VOO. The better question is whether the extra income gives the portfolio a role that is worth the lower price-growth profile. SPYI and JEPI may fit an income sleeve, but the table does not make them replacements for core S&P 500 exposure.
The weekly or high-distribution rows need a separate read. WDTE has 36.68% Dividend TTM with -25.55% Price CAGR, XDTE has 38.18% Dividend TTM with -15.87% Price CAGR, and SDTY has 27.60% Dividend TTM with -18.37% Price CAGR. Those numbers are not useful if read as yield alone. They need to be checked against price trend and payout support risk, which is marked YES for all three.
TSPY sits between those groups in this snapshot. Its Dividend TTM is 16.38%, Price CAGR is -3.27%, and payout support risk is marked SUSPECT. That makes it different from JEPI and SPYI, which are both marked NO for payout support risk here.
The leveraged rows should also be separated from the income discussion. UPRO shows 35.98% Price CAGR with only 1.04% Dividend TTM, while SSO shows -7.38% Price CAGR in this snapshot despite being a leveraged S&P 500 product. These are not income holdings in the same sense as JEPI, SPYI, or XYLD.
My takeaway from this screen is that “S&P 500 ETF” is too broad as a category. Before comparing numbers, I need to decide the job first: core exposure, income sleeve, weekly payout strategy, or leveraged tool. Otherwise, the highest payout row can look attractive while solving a completely different portfolio problem.
Note: Metrics are exported from Dividend Decoder as a partial snapshot; not investment advice.