Derivative-income funds offer attractive yields – if you can accept the trade-off

[SEOUL] Vetaran fund manager Hamilton Reiner, who pioneered equity premium income funds for JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM), speaks with a kindly, almost professorial cadence that belies his star power.

His brainchildren – JEPI, JEPQ and a host of other options-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds – inspire blogs, Internet chatter and spots on YouTube channels. For the uninitiated, JEPI and JEPQ are the stars in JPMAM’s line-up of active ETFs.

JEPI is the ticker for the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF, with exposure to the S&P 500. JEPQ refers to the JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF, which offers exposure to the Nasdaq 100 index.