Forget OMAH: Own Berkshire’s Holdings Directly for Zero Annual Fees Instead
A Berkshire-flavored ETF promises 15% annual income built on Buffett's name, but the fee structure and hidden upside caps tell a very different story than the fund's marketing does.
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Warren Buffett spent decades telling investors that costs are the enemy of compounding. A new ETF wraps his portfolio in a covered call overlay and charges nearly 1% for the privilege. It’s one of the more expensive Buffett tributes on the market, and the bill arrives quietly before the fund does anything at all.
VistaShares Target 15 Berkshire Select Income ETF (NYSEARCA:OMAH) pitches a 15% annual income target built from selling call options on a Berkshire-linked U.S. equity basket tracking the Solactive VistaShares Berkshire Select Index. The marketing positions itself as Buffett-plus-income. The mechanics are pricier and more constraining than the factsheet lets on.
What the 0.98% Fee Actually Costs
OMAH carries a net expense ratio of 0.98%. On a $10,000 position, that is $98 a year drained from NAV before anything else happens. Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) shares carry no expense ratio at all. You pay a commission (usually zero), and you own the company.
A 0.98% annual fee reduces your ending balance by roughly 9% after 10 years and roughly 18% after 20 years, regardless of what the underlying does. Owning BRK.B directly avoids that entire line item.
Overlay Cap Nobody Advertises
The Target 15 income comes from selling call options against the underlying basket. When a stock rallies past the strike, OMAH’s upside on that name is capped. The April 30, 2026 holdings disclose short calls on the underlying basket including index-linked strikes BRKB C472.5, AAPL C277.5, GOOGL C355, and MA C510. Every dollar those stocks travel above those strikes is a dollar shareholders do not fully collect.
The distributions themselves matter too. OMAH pays monthly, most recently distributing $0.23263 per share on July 27, 2026, with trailing 12-month distributions totaling $2.82227 per share. For a covered-call fund, however, the amount distributed does not necessarily equal income earned by the portfolio. Distributions can include ordinary income, capital gains, and return of capital. Return of capital generally reduces an investor’s cost basis and defers taxes until the shares are sold, making the tax character of the distribution important when evaluating the fund’s headline yield.
Monthly income is the whole reason a fund like this exists, and there are cheaper ways to get a check every 30 days (we rounded up seven monthly payers in a free report here: The 7 Monthly Dividend Stocks That Pay You Every 30 Days).
Portfolio You Are Actually Buying
Investors hear “Berkshire ETF” and assume they are getting Berkshire. Only 8.99% of net assets, however, is invested directly in BRK.B. The rest is spread across a 96-stock portfolio. Apple accounts for 9.97%, American Express 8.35%, Occidental Petroleum 5.84%, and Coca-Cola 5.03%. These are companies closely associated with Berkshire’s equity portfolio, but investors can also own them directly without paying OMAH’s 0.98% expense ratio.
Scoreboard: 15% Overlay vs. Just Owning BRK.B
Recent price action favors the overlay. Over the year ending August 21, 2026, OMAH rose 10.36% while BRK.B rose 1.48%. Add distributions, and OMAH’s total return over that stretch looks strong.
However, over longer horizons the picture inverts. BRK.B is up 73.81% over five years and 233.28% over ten years. OMAH only launched on January 1, 2025, so there is no matching decade to compare.
Cheaper Mirror
The cleanest lower-cost swap is BRK.B itself. Expense ratio: 0%. Distributions: none. Tax drag from monthly payouts: none. You lose the 15% income target and the diversified basket. In exchange, you get exactly what OMAH’s name invokes. For broader Buffett-style large-cap exposure, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:VOO) holds most of the same mega-caps at a fraction of OMAH’s fee.
What This Means for You
OMAH is transparent about its strategy. What it downplays is the trade-off. Here is the question worth asking before you buy. Are you paying 0.98% a year, plus a capped upside, for income you could partly replicate yourself, and giving up the long compounding Buffett built his reputation on?
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Ryne Mauck is an investment writer covering exchange-traded funds, retirement planning, and portfolio strategy. Through his work at 24/7 Wall St. and other investment platforms, including Seeking Alpha, he aims to provide clear, research-driven insights that help investors make more informed decisions while maintaining a long-term approach to investing.
Ryne holds a B.Sc. in Finance and an M.A. in Political Science. He is a formerly registered Municipal Advisor Representative and has passed the Series 50, Series 63, and Series 65 exams. His articles are not intended to be, nor should they be interpreted as, financial advice.
