{"url":"https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/evaluating-a-fund/","section":"academy","title":"Evaluating a fund: fee, benchmark and promise | ETFIQ","description":"Run three checks on two S&P 500 income ETFs: what it costs, how it did against its benchmark, and whether it kept its promise. Real ETFIQ data.","as_of":"Nov 10, 2026","structured_data":[{"@type":"LearningResource","@id":"https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/evaluating-a-fund/#lesson","name":"Evaluating a fund: fee, benchmark and promise","description":"Over the year to Nov 10, 2026, XYLD returned 13.6% (Promise check: Delivered) and SPYI 11.3% (Partly), against 11.2% for SPY.","url":"https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/evaluating-a-fund/","learningResourceType":"Lesson","teaches":"Three checks for any fund (cost, result against its benchmark, and whether it kept its category's promise), shown on two income funds","educationalLevel":"Advanced","timeRequired":"PT7M","inLanguage":"en","isAccessibleForFree":true,"isPartOf":{"@type":"Course","@id":"https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/#course","name":"Planning Deep Dive","url":"https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/"},"position":5,"dateModified":"2026-11-10","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ETFIQ Research","url":"https://etfiq.com"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ETFIQ Research","url":"https://etfiq.com"}},{"@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/evaluating-a-fund/#check","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Which check tells you whether an income fund paid you out of its own price?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The Promise check: total return against cash paid. it compares what the fund earned with what it handed out."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Fund K paid 10% in cash and returned 6% in total over a year. What is its Promise check?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Partly. 6 \u00f7 10 = 60%, between 50% and 100%."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Fund M beat its benchmark by 2 points and its Promise check is Missed. What does that tell you?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It did well against its benchmark but paid out far more than it earned. the checks answer different questions, so they can disagree."}}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"ETFIQ","item":"https://etfiq.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Academy","item":"https://etfiq.com/academy/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Planning Deep Dive","item":"https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Evaluating a fund","item":"https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/evaluating-a-fund/"}]},{"@type":"WebPage","name":"Evaluating a fund: fee, benchmark and promise","description":"Run three checks on two S&P 500 income ETFs: what it costs, how it did against its benchmark, and whether it kept its promise. Real ETFIQ data.","url":"https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/evaluating-a-fund/","dateModified":"2026-11-10","isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","name":"ETFIQ","url":"https://etfiq.com"},"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".lede"]},"publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org"}}],"characters":5471,"truncated":false,"content":"ETFIQ / Academy / Planning Deep Dive / Evaluating a fund \n \n Evaluating a fund: fee, benchmark and promise\n Data as of Nov 10, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.\n Over the year to Nov 10, 2026 , XYLD returned 13.6% (Promise check: Delivered ) and SPYI 11.3% ( Partly ), against 11.2% for SPY.\n Planning Deep Dive \u00b7 Lesson 5 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 \n Pick an amount. See what each income fund paid in cash and returned in total, against SPY. Amount you put in $10,000 On $10,000: XYLD cash paid $1,060, XYLD total return $1,360, SPYI cash paid $1,200, SPYI total return $1,130, SPY total return $1,123. Hypothetical amount. One-year numbers to Nov 10, 2026; the benchmark is SPY. \n The question\n \"Two funds promise the same thing. How do I tell which one actually does its job?\"\n The idea\n Ask three separate questions, because each catches something the others miss: What does it cost? The expense ratio ( What a fee costs ).\n How did it do against its benchmark? Total return against the fund it's measured against ( Your first fund check ).\n Did it keep its promise? Every category promises something. An income fund promises income without spending your capital . ETFIQ's Promise check divides total return by the cash paid. Total return is roughly cash plus price change, so 100% or more means the price held: Delivered . From 50% to under 100%: Partly . Under 50%: Missed .\n \n Worked example\n Two income funds that write options on the S&P 500, both measured against SPY. Every return covers the year to Nov 10, 2026 . Fees are each fund's latest stated rate.\n Check 1. Cost. \n XYLD: 0.60% a year, $60 on $10,000\n SPYI: 0.68% a year, $68 on $10,000\n Close. Fee alone barely separates them.\n Check 2. Against the benchmark. SPY returned 11.2% .\n XYLD: 13.6 % \u2212 11.2 % = +2.4 points \n SPYI: 11.3 % \u2212 11.2 % = +0.1 points \n XYLD finished ahead of SPY over this year; SPYI finished ahead of it.\n Check 3. The promise. Total return \u00f7 cash paid:\n XYLD: 13.6 % \u00f7 10.6 % = 128.3% . Delivered . Its price rose 2.3% .\n SPYI: 11.3 % \u00f7 12.0 % = 94.2% . Partly . Its price fell 1.2% .\n Cash and price change don't add exactly to total return, because total return counts each payout as reinvested when paid.\n The two checks ask different questions. One asks whether a fund beat SPY. The other asks whether its total return covered the cash it paid. SPYI paid 12.0% in cash, and its total return was 94.2% of that cash.\n Check 4. Read the category. Of 334 measured income ETFs, 74 ( 22.2% ) delivered over the year to Nov 10, 2026 . Delivering is not the norm here, so the badge carries real information.\n A fund can pass one check and miss another, so run all three. These two are examples for practice, not picks.\n The common mistake\n \"The higher payout is the better product.\" SPYI paid 12.0% against XYLD's 10.6% , and its total return covered 94.2% of that cash against XYLD's 128.3% . A payout says how much cash left the fund, not whether the fund made it. Read the payout beside total return.\n Check your understanding\n Pick an answer to see why. Two of three right passes the lesson.\n 1. Which check tells you whether an income fund paid you out of its own price? A The Promise check: total return against cash paid B Total return against the benchmark C The fee D The size of the payout Answer: A. The Promise check: total return against cash paid. it compares what the fund earned with what it handed out. Not B: the benchmark check compares total return with SPY and ignores the cash a fund paid. 2. Fund K paid 10% in cash and returned 6% in total over a year. What is its Promise check? A Delivered B Partly C Missed D Can't tell Answer: B. Partly. 6 \u00f7 10 = 60%, between 50% and 100%. Not C: Missed is under 50%. 3. Fund M beat its benchmark by 2 points and its Promise check is Missed. What does that tell you? A The data must be wrong B It kept its promise C Its fee is too high D It did well against its benchmark but paid out far more than it earned Answer: D. It did well against its benchmark but paid out far more than it earned. the checks answer different questions, so they can disagree. Not A: the checks use different yardsticks, so a fund can lead on one and miss the other. \n Takeaways\n Judge a fund on cost, benchmark and promise, separately. \n For an income fund, compare total return with the cash paid, not just the payout. \n Check your fund's Promise badge and its category on ETFIQ's Promise Index. \n Do it on ETFIQ\n Find your fund's Promise check Your fund \n Where to next\n Next lesson: Write your own investment rules Previous lesson: Inflation and rates: when bonds stop cushioning Planning Deep Dive: all lessons The explainer behind this lesson ETFIQ Academy How ETFIQ computes these numbers \n Cite this page. ETFIQ, Evaluating a fund: fee, benchmark and promise, data as of Nov 10, 2026. https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/evaluating-a-fund/ Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms. The underlying files are at Open data .\n Other forms Plain ETFIQ, Evaluating a fund: fee, benchmark and promise, data as of Nov 10, 2026. https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/evaluating-a-fund/ APA ETFIQ. (Nov 10, 2026). Evaluating a fund: fee, benchmark and promise. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/evaluating-a-fund/ Markdown [Evaluating a fund: fee, benchmark and promise (ETFIQ, Nov 10, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/evaluating-a-fund/)","source":"ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.","publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org","name":"ETFIQ","url":"https://etfiq.com"},"license":"https://etfiq.com/license/","license_text":"Data ETFIQ computes is free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms.","citation":"ETFIQ, Evaluating a fund: fee, benchmark and promise, data as of Nov 10, 2026. https://etfiq.com/academy/planning-deep-dive/evaluating-a-fund/"}