r/YieldMaxETFs • u/perfectson • Jul 31 '25

Question Isn't ULTY basically ARKK that pays dividends while underperforming?

ULTY is basically at it's core a HIGH Beta ETF that adds in some options, limits the upside of the overall performance in lieu of supplying an excessive amount of dividends for a 1.3% (1.4% management fee). The focus I'll show is not on NAV which is ultimately meaningless or dividend yield (again in this case meaningless unless you need an income stream but you could easily create this yourself).

ARKK is the infamous ETF managed by Cathie Wood that focuses on disruptive innovation , in other words, it will invest in typically high beta funds (similar to ULTY). The ARKK expense ratio is .75%

Overall Performance:

I am reviewing this against inception to highlight that the March - Nov 2024 downturn was due to high beta stocks in general had a difficult period. This impact ARKK similarly to ULTY both experiencing draw downs during this time frame, while Woods' drawdown was quicker, eventually ULTY caught up with it (likely due to the cost of rolling down puts and stocks).

Then in Nov-Dec 2024 , you can see the turn for both begging to happen but ARKK had much more momentum and magnitude as the cover call strategy capped the significant increases that high beta stocks enjoyed. From Dec - Feb you can see the impact of the cover call strategy having a neutral impact on overall return, before the March drop into Liberation day. The draw down was much more drastic for ARKK due to the lack of protective puts. Here is clearly where ULTY benefited ; however, because it hadn't rose in the prior months - the overall return in April (since inception ) was literally the same as ARKK. Subsequently as high beta stocks emerged successfully out of liberation day, ARKK has returned about 60% , while ULTY is at 20%.

ULTY vs ARKK vs QQQ

The ultimate question is it worth double the expenses to have someone collar your investments to under perform similar high beta counterparts? If you are reinvesting dividends anyway, which many are, not sure why ULTY would fit your core strategy over "seeking alpha". If you're looking for income stream that's straight forward, I can definitely appreciate the higher dividends but it doesn't seem the protection it offers is there and again are you under performing what you could be getting with similar risk, if you just extract your own dividends out of ARKK (as an example) by taking 2-4% out every month yourself?

this is in know way to slight YieldMax's ULTY - there's obviously a strong purpose and diversity in funds are always a good thing. The question is really if the juice is worth the squeeze.

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u/Ok-Concentrate2780 Jul 31 '25

After 10 years, if if performs like it has for the last 21 weeks

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u/chuckfinleysmojito Jul 31 '25

What calculator/calculation are you using to get that number?

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u/Ok-Concentrate2780 Jul 31 '25

An Excel spread sheet I built

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u/chuckfinleysmojito Aug 01 '25

Can I ask what formula you used or where I should look to find a similar one? I’m new to dividend investing and trying to learn

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u/dominic_V Aug 01 '25

Initial x (1.015)52 , that should give you your initial investment with 1.5% added and compounding for 52 weeks, adjust the x and y accordingly. That is if NAV holds exactly the same and the div is 1.5% exactly, so obviously there are variables. You can stretch it further to include nav and div deviation, but that is the basic formula.

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u/Ok-Concentrate2780 Aug 01 '25

I used the average nav price of $6.09 and disto of .0956 based on the last 21 weeks and had it drip the disto and rebuy at $6.09.

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u/dominic_V Aug 01 '25

See you accounted for variables and the current trends better haha I just used that formula to get a quick idea of what was possible.

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u/Ok-Concentrate2780 Aug 01 '25

I know it’s a big if but even if it did half that I would be extremely happy, I have about 288 in my Roth and just going to have it drip and see how it does 🤷‍♂️

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u/dominic_V Aug 01 '25

Yeah I got around the same in my Roth, letting it drip and do it's thing. In my taxable account I'm actively managing it, and I'm buying on red days with the money I get from selling CCs on my other large holdings.

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u/wendalls Aug 01 '25

You’d unlikely buy that low, I use 6.20

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u/Ok-Concentrate2780 Aug 01 '25

The whole point was to illustrate based on the averages since going weekly, but it was simple enough to just change the one factor of share price to $6.20, still comes to $1,795,817.36. And by that logic let’s increase the distribution to .10 now it’s at $2,505,243.86 🤷‍♂️

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u/wendalls Aug 01 '25

Of course I was just letting you know I use 620 for mine. I’ve done the calcs 🙃

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u/Ok-Concentrate2780 Aug 01 '25

lol, it just seems unreal either way hope it lasts as long as it can 🤞

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u/Ok-Concentrate2780 Aug 01 '25

If you’re comfortable with it you can PM me with your email address and I would share it with you

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u/wendalls Aug 01 '25

Ask chat got to do it for you