Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IEFA vs NIHI: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IEFA returned +12.3% to NIHI's +11.7%, and IEFA charges 0.07% to NIHI's 0.68%.
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Net assets: $190.4bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF, and $215m on Oct 27, 2026 for NEOS MSCI EAFE High Income ETF.
Pair scorecard
IEFA costs 0.61 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.6 points; IEFA is far larger, $190.1bn against $215m.
| Measure | IEFA | NIHI |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +12.3% | +11.7% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 8.4% | rose 0.6% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 10.2% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 100% of the Oct 23, 2026 payment | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.7%, high on Aug 25, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI EAFE IMI Index | Benchmark: iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF, measured through IEFA |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.07% | 0.68% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $190.1bn | $215m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 0% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 12.3% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Sep 26, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026 · 56 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: IEFA against ACWX, Nov 2, 2012 to Oct 23, 2026; NIHI against IEFA, Sep 26, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026.
IEFA returned slightly more: +14.5% to +13.4%. NIHI swung slightly less: 13.2% to 14.2%. NIHI fell slightly less at its worst: −10.7% to −11.3%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IEFA | NIHI | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +14.5% | +13.4% | IEFA (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +13.4% | +12.4% | IEFA (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +10.6% | +1.4% | IEFA | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 14.2% | 13.2% | NIHI (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 10.1% | 9.7% | NIHI (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −11.3% | −10.7% | NIHI (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 98.1% | 78.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 97.7% | 86.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.83 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.96 | 0.81 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.69 | 0.67 | IEFA (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.98 | 0.91 | IEFA (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.073 | 0.106 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 1.19 | 1.16 | IEFA (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | ACWX | IEFA | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.8% a year | +0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.96 | 0.11 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.9% to +2.5% | −10.8% to +12.0% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.25 | −0.17 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 3.2% | 6.3% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 56 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, IEFA and NIHI hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
IEFA and NIHI on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ. Cash paid: distributions over the window, as a share of the starting price.
IEFA and NIHI do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. IEFA follows MSCI EAFE IMI Index and NIHI is measured against iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF through IEFA.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026).
- Cost. IEFA charges 0.07% of assets a year and NIHI 0.68%, a gap of 0.61 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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IEFA
IEFA tracks the MSCI EAFE. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.3% with distributions reinvested, against +14.3% for its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.07% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,629 positions, with the top ten at 12.3%. It sat 4.7% below its high of Aug 25, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
NIHI
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, NIHI paid 10.6% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 0.6%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +11.7%. iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA) returned +12.3% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 0.6 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 10.2%, paid monthly. NEOS estimates that 100% of the distribution paid Oct 23, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
Questions people ask
- Are IEFA and NIHI in the same category?
- IEFA is a stock ETF and NIHI is an option-income ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, IEFA or NIHI?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IEFA returned +12.3% and NIHI +11.7%.
- Which is cheaper, IEFA or NIHI?
- IEFA is cheaper, by 0.61 percentage points a year. That is about $61 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, IEFA against NIHI, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iefa-vs-nihi
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). IEFA against NIHI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iefa-vs-nihi
[IEFA against NIHI (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iefa-vs-nihi)
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