How a 48-Year Old Electrician Could Replace a $102,000 Salary With Covered Call Dividends

After nearly three decades of crawling through attics, pulling wire through cramped crawlspaces, and responding to emergency calls at all hours, 48-year-old electrician Mike Reynolds is feeling something many skilled tradespeople eventually experience — burnout.

It’s not that the pay is bad. Mike earns about $102,000 per year working as an electrician. But the physical demands of the job are starting to take a toll. And he’s looking for a potential exit strategy. 

Like many Americans approaching their 50s, Mike doesn’t necessarily dream of retiring fully. Instead, he’d like the financial flexibility to work fewer hours or perhaps even pivot into a more creative role.

But he also needs to pay the bills. 

Thankfully, Mike has options. By leaning on covered call ETFs, Mike can build a portfolio that generates enough cash flow to replace his income. And two ETFs that have become particularly popular for this purpose are JEPI and JEPQ.

Understanding the covered call strategy

Before we dive into the numbers, it’s important to understand how funds like JEPI and JEPQ generate their income. 

Both of these funds hold diversified portfolios of stocks. In addition to collecting dividends from those holdings, the funds generate additional income by selling call options on portions of their portfolios.

When investors buy call options, they’re essentially paying for the right to purchase stocks at a predetermined price. The ETF collects those option premiums upfront. If the underlying stocks don’t rise above certain levels, the fund keeps the premium income. That income lets these funds share the wealth with investors. 

JEPI and JEPQ actually hold different investments despite having the same underlying strategy:

• JEPI focuses primarily on large-cap U.S. companies and tends to focus on lower-volatility stocks.
• JEPQ uses a similar strategy but focuses on Nasdaq-listed companies, giving investors more exposure to technology and growth-oriented businesses.

Replacing a $102,000 salary

Let’s assume Mike’s goal is to replace his entire $102,000 annual salary through investment income.

For this example, we’ll use the current 12-month rolling dividend yields of:

• JEPI: 8.40%
• JEPQ: 8.06%

If Mike splits his portfolio equally between the two funds, the blended yield would be approximately 8.23%. What this means is that Mike would need about $1.24 million invested in a 50/50 mix of JEPI and JEPQ to generate about $102,000 per year in income based on these numbers. 

Now that’s only a rough estimate. ETFs like JEPI and JEPO pay variably based on the actual interest and dividends collected from their underlying assets, as opposed to a fixed rate.

The takeaway, however, is that with enough money invested, it may be possible to replace a six-figure income with passive earnings through a covered call ETF portfolio. 

If you’re feeling burned out like Mike, you may want to see about putting your money to work. If anything, you may find that by leaning on your portfolio, you can at least take a temporary break from the grind that offers you the chance to get a mental and physical reset.