One factor I’ve been observing within the ETF trade over the previous few years is an explosion in income-oriented funds. Canadian buyers, by and enormous, are yield-hungry. Many would quite delegate the work to an ETF than hand-pick a portfolio of dividend shares themselves. There may be nothing fallacious with that.
What has modified, nonetheless, is the extent of complexity. A rising variety of earnings ETFs now use leverage. Others depend on lined calls. Some mix each. The trade-off is sort of all the time greater charges and better complexity.
If you’re prepared to look again a little bit additional, although, you will discover easier month-to-month earnings ETFs which were round for greater than a decade and are nonetheless doing what they have been designed to do.
One instance is the iShares Canadian Monetary Month-to-month Revenue ETF (TSX: EITHER). Right here is why it nonetheless deserves a glance in the present day in 2026.
What’s FIE?
FIE debuted in April 2010 and in the present day manages simply over $1.3 billion in property. Because the title suggests, it has two clear targets: concentrate on Canadian monetary securities and generate month-to-month earnings.
The biggest portion of the portfolio consists of frequent shares of Canada’s greatest banks and life insurance coverage corporations. These are conventional dividend-paying blue chips.
The second-largest sleeve, at roughly 20% of the portfolio, is invested in an iShares ETF that tracks Canadian most well-liked shares.
Most popular shares sit between bonds and customary fairness in an organization’s capital construction. They often pay a hard and fast dividend, much like bond curiosity, however they’re technically fairness.
Within the occasion of chapter, most well-liked shareholders rank above frequent shareholders however under bondholders. Due to this hybrid nature, most well-liked shares usually provide greater yields than frequent shares however have restricted value appreciation potential.
Canadian banks are heavy issuers of most well-liked shares as a result of regulators enable them to depend as a part of their capital base. For earnings buyers, meaning publicity to financial institution credit score high quality with a better said yield.
The ultimate roughly 10% of FIE is invested in company bonds, that are debt issued by corporations quite than governments. They carry credit score threat, which means the issuer may default, however in trade buyers obtain greater yields than on federal bonds.
How a lot yield does FIE pay?
There are two frequent methods to measure yield. The primary is the trailing 12-month yield, which seems to be backward on the earnings truly paid over the previous 12 months. As of February 10, 2026, FIE pays a trailing 12-month yield of 4.8%.
The second is the projected distribution yield. To calculate that, you’re taking the newest month-to-month distribution, multiply it by 12, and divide by the present share value. For the time being, that determine additionally works out to 4.8%.
Trailing yield tells you what has already been paid. The annualized distribution yield tells you what you would possibly obtain if the present payout continues. Neither is assured, however when the 2 line up carefully, it suggests relative stability.
It’s also price noting whole return. When you had reinvested FIE’s month-to-month distributions inside a registered account over the previous 10 years, the ETF would have compounded at 11.9% yearly, after charges.
Nonetheless, charges usually are not insignificant. FIE expenses a 0.74% administration expense ratio. That’s on the upper aspect in contrast with broad market ETFs, and there are cheaper earnings choices out there.
Nonetheless, for an ETF that has been round since 2010 and continues to ship constant month-to-month earnings, FIE stays related.