GPIX vs XISE

GPIXAGoldman Sachs S&P 500 Premium Income ETF

XISECFT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer & Premium Income ETF - September

In short

GPIX Most option-income funds sell the whole rally for yield. GPIX is written to ask for both: current income and preserved prospects for capital appreciation, on a roughly 500-stock S&P 500 core, at 0.35%, paid monthly.

XISE A buffered S&P 500 fund that swaps the rally for a paycheck: XISE targets a stated income rate for the year and cushions the first 10% of the underlying ETF's losses, with the terms reset every September.

Stated mandate

GPIX The Fund seeks current income while preserving prospects for capital appreciation. It invests primarily in benchmark-related stocks and sells call options providing exposure to the benchmark to generate premium income.

XISE The Fund seeks to provide approximately 6.88% annualized income before fees and expenses while buffering the first 10% of losses of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust during the current target outcome period. It uses FLEX Options and short-term U.S. Treasury securities.

Why people hold it

• GPIX The mandate is income without giving up on growth: hold benchmark stocks, sell calls tied to the S&P 500 for premium, and keep prospects for capital appreciation.
• The 0.35% fee sits below the typical charge among S&P 500 option-income peers, including older buy-write names like XYLD.
• Roughly 500 stocks underneath and cash out the door monthly, so the equity engine is the index itself rather than a synthetic stand-in.
• A multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund launched in 2023, and one of the tighter implementations of this strategy in its peer group.

• XISE The 10% buffer is contractual, not a manager's judgment call. FLEX options lock it in at the start of each one-year outcome period beginning in September.ftportfolios.com
• Income is the whole point: the fund publishes a target annualized income level for each outcome period and distributes monthly.ftportfolios.com
• September is just the start month. First Trust runs sibling buffer-and-income funds dated to other months, so the calendar entry point is a choice, not a constraint.businesswire.combusinesswire.com 2businesswire.com 3

Worth knowing

• GPIX Premium income comes from selling upside. Where calls are written, gains are capped, so a fast melt-up in the S&P 500 leaves some return on the table.
• Distributions can include return of capital, meaning part of a payout may be your own money coming back. The fund's tax disclosures show the split.
• This is an equity fund, not a hedge. Option premium softens the ride; it does not put a floor under a market drop.

• XISE The 0.85% fee sits above the 0.60% median for S&P 500 options-income funds, and well above cheaper peers such as IVVW (0.25%) and GPIX (0.35%).
• One of the smaller, thinly traded names in its group, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than at the category's heavyweights.
• Upside is surrendered by design, and the stated buffer and income terms apply to a full outcome period. Buying mid-period means different math than the headline numbers.businesswire.comftportfolios.com

Full GPIX profile⁠

Full XISE profile⁠