Three Months Over $10,000: The September 2026 Review of a $1.3M Portfolio

June $10,067, July $10,252, August $10,320. Three straight five-figure months and $30,638 for the quarter. Stephanie frames the streak with a new accounting lens : the September 16 snapshot shows $1.3M in total investable assets flat versus June only if you ignore the $30,000 withdrawn on September 4 . For anyone living off an income portfolio, withdrawals vanish from the balance chart; she now shows withdrawals alongside balances so the return picture is honest.

Asset Map: 57 Income, 43 Growth

The split is clean: Fidelity income $344K (was $369K, the withdrawal came from here), Vanguard income $393K (up from $379K, the $400K pivot account, fully DRIP 'ed), retirement $560K ($42K Roth, $517K traditional IRA). That is $737K income, $560K growth — 57/43 . She left Dell with about $193K of cost basis in retirement accounts; untouched, it is now $560K and on track toward ~$2M by age 59.5 . Growth is S&P 500, total U.S. market and a small IBIT sleeve .

Market backdrop June 16–Sept 16: S&P 500 +0.15% flat, Nasdaq 100 –5%, Bitcoin via IBIT +14% . The trio matters for the BTCI debate. She also recaps the pivot: ~$400K moved from growth to income in late April/early May , then sold JEPQ ~$84K in early June for a $9.6K long-term gain split into SPYI, QQQI and BTCI. May $10,764 was the first big month on the new mix.

Income Math: Forecast, Reality and Next Month

The June–August average is ~$10.2K per month versus about $4.4K in the first four months of the year. August by fund clarifies the engine: BTCI $5,130 — about half the month from one fund , QQQI $3,150 (up from $2,772 in June on the JEPQ redeployment), SPYI $1,760 (up from $1,371), GPIQ $353 , GPIX $143 — the latter in a 143–146 tight band for four months straight; JEPQ's final payout in June was $780.

She revisits her June guide: $11,000–$11,600 per month expected, realized $10.1K–$10.3K , about $1K per month high . The driver is BTCI: May $0.79, June $0.65, July $0.65, August $0.63 — price slid from mid-30s to high-20s, the rate held, dollars per share fell . For September, distributions are already declared: BTCI $0.72, QQQI $0.63, SPYI $0.53 , payable Sept 18; on current shares September pencils to ~$11,000 , a new high. Year-to-date $59,620 already exceeds the full-year 2025 total of $53,238 with three months left.

For planning she watches two lenses: trailing 12-month (last 12 months of payouts applied to today's shares) at $144,431 per year, $12,036 per month, 17.8% personal yield on cost , versus last-month ×12 at $132,481 per year, $11,040 per month, 16.3% . The gap ~$12K per year , down from ~$26K in June . All of the gap is BTCI — BTCI $12,252 lower on the last-month view, the other four funds ~$300 higher together . When price falls, the trailing view still carries richer prior payouts and looks inflated for months.

She calls this yield dynamics , covered in the February review: trailing stays elevated after a price drop and washes out slowly, while last-month ×12 snaps to reality — though even that was high in June. The working expectation is now low-$10Ks for a few months , drifting higher as Vanguard distributions are reinvested ; anything above that is treated as upside .

Honest Scorecard: Cost, Value and Cumulative Income

The scorecard is frank: cost basis of income accounts $810,436, current value $731,411 — down 9.75%, about $79K unrealized . Almost all of it is one fund: BTCI –$73,164, QQQI –~$6,300 , SPYI/GPIX/GPIQ within a few hundred of flat. Lifetime income from the strategy is $185,473 , realized profit after gains/losses ~$179,563 , cumulative total return ~12.4% — similar to June. Yield on cost by year tells the pivot story: 8.15% in 2023, 10% in 2024, 14.2% in 2025, tracking 15–16% this year .

The answer is concentration : SPYI, QQQI and BTCI are 92% of cost and ~95% of income . That mix lifts yield and lifts single-name sensitivity, so reinvestment discipline and issuer-risk monitoring travel together.

BTCI Under the Microscope: Rate, Volatility and Trade-off

BTCI sized three ways as usual: ~40% of income accounts by cost, ~34% by value, ~19% of the $1.3M total — inside the 20–25% band she set in June — and 53% of last month's income . Price ~$30.85 vs average cost $39.90 — down ~23% , the very first purchase in July 2025 at ~$64.87 is down more than half . BTCI has still paid $33,945 in distributions; net position ~–$39K today, stated without dressing.

The rate picture is steadier : over 23 months since launch, monthly distribution / month-end price has ranged 1.93%–2.78%, averaging 2.37% — about 28.4% annualized . The low month was August (1.93%) because the price jumped ~19% after the record date , so the same dollars divided by a higher close looked low; September is back to 2.33% . NEOS's Wes Matthews describes the target as 26–28% — a target, not a promise — and her 10-year plan assumed 26% , so the average sits above plan, the low month below it — still a fit.

Second, BTCI is not low-volatility : Bitcoin annual volatility ~40–50% vs S&P 500 ~10–15% , worst-day averages –5.6% vs –1.7% — an elevator versus a roller coaster , and BTCI is selling calls from the roller-coaster car . That volatility is why option premiums are rich and why price did what it did; you cannot have one without the other . Third, tracking and give-up : over the last year IBIT total return –34.5% vs BTCI –32.4% — income cushioned the down year, year-to-date they are within a point; but over the last three months IBIT price +14.04% vs BTCI price –0.48% — the covered call trades away upside for income . If you want the rocket, BTCI is not it, hence IBIT lives in the long-term retirement sleeve .

Goldman–NEOS: Single-Issuer Risk and the Competitive Map

On August 12, Goldman reached a deal to purchase NEOS Investments in a transaction valued at up to $2.25B in cash and stock ; NEOS held ~$30B across 19 funds at end-June, with close expected late 2026 or early 2027 . Founders Troy and Garrett become partners at Goldman Sachs Asset Management , portfolio managers stay, objectives unchanged, no fee hikes sought , fee waivers locked for one year after close . The Innovator precedent (announced Dec 2025, closed April, $28B/159 funds → $31B/171 funds) is cited. Weekly flows remain strong: $579M of net inflows to NEOS in the week ending Sept 12 .

Stephanie says she voted yes ; anyone holding a NEOS fund on Aug 24 gets a vote on Nov 3 on the new advisory agreement — the change of control automatically terminates the current one, not voting counts as against, brokers cannot vote for you , one proxy card per fund. Positioning is hold and reinvest on the Vanguard side , no headline selling. The real takeaway is issuer concentration : after close, five funds, three indexes, one parent — 100% under Goldman . Today JPM ~40% of option-income ETF assets, NEOS ~15% ; combined Goldman+NEOS+Innovator becomes a clear #2, two groups over half the market . Watch: GPIQ (0.29%) vs QQQI (0.68%) staying separate , GPIQ captured 98% of QQQ total return last year while paying ~10% vs QQQI capturing 75% while paying ~14% — different jobs; TAP Alpha's TDAX (daily options, $330M, 1-yr 22.8% vs QQQI 16.4%/GPIQ 21.3%, captured 104% of QQQ) ; JPM's March launch of Rocky/RocQ at 0.35% around return-of-capital tax efficiency . Takeaway: competition is good for income investors, fee pressure rises , but you cannot set-and-forget who manages your money . She also unveils Permission Circle , opening Sept 22 (waitlist emailed Sept 20 ), 100 charter slots with lifetime pricing .