The projection model
Every calculator runs the same open, deterministic monthly-step model. Inside each month, in order: (1) your contribution buys shares at the current price; (2) if it is a payout month, shares × distribution-per-share is received, taxed at your flat rate, and — with DRIP on — the net amount buys more shares at the current price; (3) price compounds at the monthly equivalent of your annual price-growth rate; (4) at each year boundary the per-share distribution grows by your distribution-growth rate. Stress shocks (a distribution cut or price drop) apply at their scheduled month and persist afterward.
What the model deliberately ignores
- Volatility. Rates are held constant, so results have no sequence-of-returns risk — real outcomes vary far more.
- Tax detail. One flat rate on distributions stands in for qualified vs. ordinary rates, brackets, state tax, and return-of-capital basis adjustments. By default the model taxes 100% of every distribution, while many option-income funds classify a large share of their payouts as return of capital — generally not taxed when paid (it reduces cost basis instead, per issuer 19a-1 estimates that are finalized only in year-end tax reporting). Where a fund’s trailing ROC share is meaningful and your tax rate is nonzero, the calculator says so next to its results; after-tax figures are then conservative for taxable accounts. An optional “Apply ROC classification to taxes” toggle (off by default, shown only when a fund publishes a trailing ROC estimate) instead excludes that ROC share from tax when each payout is received. That is itself an estimate: issuer classifications remain provisional until year-end tax reporting, and the model still ignores the cost-basis reduction ROC causes — the deferred capital-gains tax due when shares are eventually sold is not shown. Neither setting is tax advice.
- Trading frictions, bid-ask spreads, and fractional-share rules.
- Fund-level changes: strategy shifts, expense changes, closures.
- For weekly option-income funds, the default payout-growth assumption follows the fund’s own trailing 12-vs-prior-12 payout trend (clamped between −30% and 0%); it is an editable assumption, not a forecast. Their 1-year default horizon is also editable — a starting point reflecting how these funds are typically held, not a recommendation.
These omissions all bias results toward looking smoother and more certain than reality. That is why every result carries an assumption ledger and why stress presets exist.
Income-goal math
The monthly goal is treated as an average across a year. Required shares = (annual after-tax income goal ÷ (1 − tax rate)) ÷ (distribution per share × payouts per year). Required capital = shares × price. Actual cash arrives on the fund’s payout schedule, not evenly each month. The current payout is held constant — it is a snapshot, not a forecast, and the page says so when the implied yield makes that snapshot fragile.
Return and income labels
“Total gain / contributed” is the scenario’s ending value plus cash received, less outside contributions, divided by those contributions. It is not a time-weighted investment return. The annualized figure is a money-weighted estimate based on the modeled cash-flow schedule. “Final-year gross income / contributed” divides the last modeled year’s gross distributions by all outside contributions; it is not tax cost basis and should not be read as a brokerage-reported yield on cost.
Data provenance
Every market value displayed on this site carries an as-of date and a source. Pages whose data is stale, unreviewed, or placeholder are excluded from search indexing and banner-flagged. Distribution rate, SEC 30-day yield, and return-of-capital share are shown side by side because they answer different questions; we never present one as the other.
Distribution history preserves the issuer’s published cash components. When a source identifies a special or capital-gain distribution, it remains in the historical record but is excluded from the recurring payout used to pre-load projections. An unclassified payout is treated as recurring rather than silently discarded. Issuer histories are stored as published and may not be adjusted for share splits; rolling source windows are accumulated across successful refreshes. These limitations are why historical payout-derived growth remains an editable assumption, not a forecast.
Corrections
If you find a wrong number or a miscomputed scenario, email support@vestoroak.com with the page URL and what you expected. Confirmed data errors are corrected and noted on the affected page; confirmed calculation errors are corrected site-wide and documented here.
