Reading the nightly grades…
| Fund | Health | Latest Check | Ex-Date | Next Expected* |
|---|
*Next expected = the last ex-date plus the fund's own weekly rhythm — an estimate from past spacing, not an announcement. Amounts are per share, as declared; weekly payers can differ check to check. Hover any ticker for the fund's full name. Grades recompute nightly.
Nearly every weekly payer is an option-income fund: it sells options on a stock or index and distributes the premium. That has two honest consequences. First, the checks are technically distributions, not classic dividends — part of many payments is return of capital, which is your own money coming back with tax strings attached. Second, the amounts move with market volatility, so a fat check one week says little about the next. Frequency is a cash-flow feature, not a yield feature — fifty-two small checks and twelve bigger ones can add up to the same dollars.
That's why the table leads with the health grade instead of the biggest number: a weekly check is only worth what the fund can keep paying. To see what a given fund would mean for your own goal, the goal calculator prices any monthly target against any fund's latest payment; the fund health check grades the funds you already own; and every fund below links to its complete payment history, charted from its first check. Completely new to all of this? Start with the beginner's guide to investing in ETFs.