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Yields are each fund's last 12 months of real payments divided by today's price — computed live, not quoted from a fact sheet.
Both funds bought with $50 every month over the identical period (starting when the younger fund, JEPI, launched in mid-2020), every payout reinvested, before taxes. Past performance doesn't predict the future — but this is the honest, like-for-like comparison.
| Year | SCHD / share | JEPI / share |
|---|
Per-share dollars aren't directly comparable between two different funds — what matters is each fund's own trend line. Full payment-by-payment charts: SCHD history · JEPI history.
| SCHD | JEPI | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Dividend-growth index ETF (~100 quality dividend stocks) | Option-income ETF (stocks + covered-call overlay) |
| Run by | Schwab | JPMorgan |
| Typical yield | ~3.5–4% | ~7–8% |
| Payout trend | Raised every year 2012–2025 (~11%/yr growth) | Varies with volatility; no growth pattern |
| Pays | Quarterly | Monthly |
| Tax character | Mostly qualified — 0/15/20% rates | Mostly ordinary income |
| Expense ratio | ~0.06% | ~0.35% |
| Paying since | 2011 | 2020 |
The Short Answer
This isn't a matchup between two rivals — it's a fork between two philosophies. JEPI hands you roughly twice the income starting today, and that's the whole promise: the checks don't grow, they just arrive. SCHD starts at half the yield but has raised its payout every year since 2012 at ~11% a year — income that compounds. Pick by your timeline, not by the bigger number.
The Crossover Math, Done Honestly
Here's the question that actually matters: when does SCHD's growing payout catch JEPI's big one? At historical rates — SCHD yielding ~4% and growing ~11% a year, JEPI paying ~7.5% flat — a dollar invested in SCHD today reaches JEPI's payout rate on your original money in roughly 6 to 8 years, and keeps climbing afterward while JEPI plateaus. The honest other half: during those years JEPI paid you nearly double the cash, and reinvesting that gap partially closes the race. That's why the $50-a-month backtest above — same window, real prices, payouts reinvested — is the fairest scoreboard available. (Try both profiles in our SCHD calculator to see the curve with your own numbers.)
Taxes: SCHD's Structural Win
In a taxable account the gap widens in SCHD's favor: its dividends are almost entirely qualified (taxed at 0/15/20%), while JEPI's option income is mostly ordinary income at your full bracket. For a high earner, after-tax, JEPI's 7.5% can behave more like 5% while SCHD's 4% behaves like 3.4% — the headline gap shrinks by a third before growth is even counted. In an IRA, ignore this paragraph entirely. Full rules: How Are Dividends Taxed?
Which One Fits You?
Choose SCHD if retirement is 8+ years away, you're investing in a taxable account, or you want income that outpaces inflation — the snowball fund. Choose JEPI if you need maximum income now with less drama than the market — the paycheck fund. Own both and glide between them as life changes; they overlap surprisingly little. Full records: SCHD history · JEPI history, and the background reads: What Is SCHD? · What Are JEPI and JEPQ?
Model Either Fund With Your Numbers
Take the live yields above into the full calculator — taxes, reinvestment toggles, and the year-by-year snowball chart.
Use the Free Dividend CalculatorMore head-to-heads: JEPI vs JEPQ · QQQI vs JEPQ · SPYI vs JEPI — or see every fund on the dividend history hub.