GLDN vs IAUI

GLDNDNicholas Gold Income ETF

IAUIANEOS Gold High Income ETF

In short

GLDN Most gold-income funds pick a lane: the miners or the metal. GLDN swings at both plus an options overlay in one actively managed wrapper, and it keeps capital appreciation as the primary goal with income riding shotgun.

IAUI Gold pays no dividend. IAUI's whole job is to change that: exposure to gold ETPs wrapped in a strategy seeking high monthly income, at 0.79% a year.

Stated mandate

GLDN The Fund is actively managed and seeks capital appreciation as its primary objective, with current income as a secondary objective. It combines gold-industry equities, commodity exposure, and an options overlay.

IAUI The Fund seeks high monthly income and potential appreciation through exposure to exchange-traded products that directly expose investors to gold.

Why people hold it

• GLDN Three gold trades in one wrapper: gold-industry equities, commodity exposure, and an options overlay, run by an active manager rather than a fixed index.
• Growth first, income second. The prospectus names capital appreciation the primary objective, so the call writing layers on top of gold exposure instead of replacing it.
• A concentrated book of roughly 50 positions, so individual manager picks actually move the needle.
• Built as a 1940 Act registered fund, the plain-vanilla ETF wrapper, not a commodity partnership.

• IAUI Gold on its own throws off no cash. This fund seeks high monthly income from gold ETP exposure and distributes on a monthly cadence.neosfunds.com
• 0.79% a year, under the 0.99% median for its gold options-income cohort and below the miner-based route (GDXY at 1.00%, IGLD at 0.85%).
• The metal, not the miners: exposure runs through gold ETPs, so mine costs, labor strikes and company-level missteps stay out of the picture.neosfunds.com
• Sits among the strongest overall implementations in its gold-income peer group, and it changes hands with respectable volume for such a narrow niche.

Worth knowing

• GLDN At 1.07%, the fee sits above most gold-income rivals, including IAUI and YGLD. Active stock picking plus an overlay costs more than an index-and-calls build.
• Writing options for income means handing back part of a big gold move. That trade-off is baked into the strategy.
• A 2026 launch that is still small and thinly traded, so there is no long record yet and spreads can run wider than at the category's heavyweights.

• IAUI One commodity, one story. No earnings or dividends sit underneath; the position lives and dies by the gold price.
• Distributions can include return of capital, which means part of a payout may be your own money handed back rather than income earned.neosfunds.com
• Launched in 2025, so the track record is short and any read on its risk profile rests on limited history.

Full GLDN profile⁠

Full IAUI profile⁠