# Your first fund check: read a fund page in 5 minutes > Five questions to ask of any ETF, practised on a real fund page: what it holds, what it costs, what it returned against its benchmark, its deepest drop. Data as of Nov 10, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night. ## Your first fund check: read a fund page in 5 minutes Data as of Nov 10, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night. Over the year to Nov 10, 2026 , JEPI paid 8.0% in cash and returned 10.1% in total, against 11.2% for SPY. Money Basics · Lesson 7 of 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pick an amount. See JEPI's cash, its total return, SPY's, and each fund's largest fall. Amount you put in $10,000 On $10,000: JEPI cash paid $805, JEPI total return $1,010, SPY total return $1,123, JEPI largest fall −$1,312, SPY largest fall −$2,393. Hypothetical amount. One-year numbers to Nov 10, 2026; largest falls May 2020 to November 2026. ### The question "I've heard of a fund. Its page is full of numbers. What do I actually look at?" ### The idea - You don't need every number. Five questions, in order, tell you most of what matters about any fund: - What does it own, and how? - What does it cost? - What did it return, against what it's measured against? - How far has it fallen? - Did it do what it says? - Each has an answer on an ETFIQ fund page. For anything else, ask askIQ, ETFIQ's AI assistant, right on the page. ### Worked example We'll check JEPI , a large income fund (one built to pay out cash regularly). It's an example for practice, not a pick. 1. What does it own, and how? The page says it "writes calls through equity-linked notes on the S&P 500, paying monthly". In plain words: it owns US stocks and sells others the right to some of their future gains, for cash now (the options of lesson 5 ). That cash is paid to holders each month. It holds 131 positions , and its ten largest are 19% of the fund. 2. What does it cost? The expense ratio ( lesson 4 ) is 0.35% a year : $10,000 × 0.35% = $35 a year. 3. What did it return, against its benchmark? A benchmark is the yardstick a fund is measured against. JEPI's is the S&P 500, measured through SPY. Over the year to Nov 10, 2026 : - JEPI paid 8.0% in cash and returned +10.1% in total return (price change plus cash paid, as in lesson 3 ). $10,000 became $11,010 . - SPY returned +11.2% . $10,000 became $11,123 . - The gap: $11,123 − $11,010 = $113 behind . The big payout didn't mean the bigger result. Most of JEPI's return came out as cash; its price rose just 1.7% . 4. How far has it fallen? The page's scorecard covers May 2020 to November 2026 . JEPI's worst fall (the biggest drop from a high to a later low, also called max drawdown) was −13.1% , against −23.9% for SPY. It fell less, and rose less: +90.8% against +164.3% . 5. Did it do what it says? ETFIQ's Promise check reads "Did what it promises: Yes " : over the year, its total return was 126.3% of the cash it paid out, so the payout came from what the fund earned, not from shrinking it. In one line: a fund that paid steady cash, fell less and grew less than the S&P 500, for $35 a year per $10,000. ### The common mistake "The fund with the biggest payout makes the most money." Payout and return are different numbers. JEPI paid 8.0% in cash yet returned less than SPY, which paid about 1.1% . Always read total return beside the payout, against the fund's own benchmark. ### Check your understanding Pick an answer to see why. Two of three right passes the lesson. 1. What is a benchmark? A The fund's fee B The yardstick a fund's result is measured against C The fund's largest holding D The cash a fund pays out Answer: B. The yardstick a fund's result is measured against. it tells you whether the fund's result was good for what it is. Not D: payouts are part of a fund's return, not the yardstick for it. 2. Over the year to Nov 10, 2026 , how did $10,000 in JEPI compare with $10,000 in SPY? A JEPI was $113 ahead B JEPI was $113 behind C They ended the same D JEPI was $800 ahead, its cash payout Answer: B. JEPI was $113 behind. $11,010 against $11,123 . Not D: the cash payout is already counted inside JEPI's total return. 3. Fund Z pays 10% a year in cash, but its total return over the same year was 4%. What does that tell you? A It earned 14% B Its price fell, so part of the payout came out of the fund's value C It beat any fund paying less D Nothing; payouts and returns aren't related Answer: B. Its price fell, so part of the payout came out of the fund's value. when total return is below the cash paid, the price dropped by about the difference. Not A: the payout is part of total return, not added on top. ### Takeaways - Ask five questions of any fund: holdings, cost, return against its benchmark, worst fall, promise kept. - Read total return beside the payout. Cash paid out is not the same as money made. - Open the fund's page on ETFIQ and ask askIQ about anything unclear. ### Do it on ETFIQ Run the five checks on your fund Your fund ### Where to next --- Source: ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices. Cite: ETFIQ, Your first fund check: read a fund page in 5 minutes, data as of Nov 10, 2026. https://etfiq.com/academy/money-basics/your-first-fund-check/ Licence: https://etfiq.com/license/ Data ETFIQ computes is free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms. HTML: https://etfiq.com/academy/money-basics/your-first-fund-check/