My $170K YOLO Into Yieldmax and the Lessons Learned

The buzz surrounding YieldMax’s exchange traded funds (ETFs) is undeniable. Some of the annual yields on these funds are absolutely stunning, and last year, I just couldn’t resist wagering my $170,000 investment account on YOLO (You Only Live Once) trades with YieldMax ETFs. 

I knew that, at least in theory, it might be possible to achieve triple-digit percentage returns with YieldMax funds. Whether it was due to curiosity or sheer greed, I took a one-year journey into YieldMax ETF investing to see if the results could live up to the hype. Along the way, I learned some valuable lessons that I’d like to impart to you today.

Don’t Try This at Home

Back in the old days, when you saw a dangerous stunt on television, a voice-over would say, “Don’t try this at home.” I would say the same thing about investing an entire $170,000 account into YieldMax ETFs.

Because they’re potentially high-reward but definitely high-risk, YieldMax funds are best suited for small portfolio positions. Anything greater than 5% of one’s portfolio is just too much, in my estimation. 

Yet, I recklessly allocated my $170,000 towards four equal-sized positions of $42,500 in the following ETFs:

• The YieldMax NVDA Option Income Strategy ETF
  (NYSEARCA:NVDY): based on NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock; 64.44% annual distribution rate; 1.27% annualized operating expenses
• The YieldMax AAPL Option Income Strategy ETF
  (NYSEARCA:APLY): based on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock; 39.42% annual distribution rate (as of August 16, 2025); 1.06% annualized operating expenses
• The YieldMax Bitcoin Option Income Strategy ETF
  (NYSEARCA:YBIT): based on Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC); 68.26% annual distribution rate; 4.76% annualized operating expenses
• The YieldMax Gold Miners Option Income Strategy ETF
  (NYSEARCA:GDXY): based on the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:GDX); 52.4% annual distribution rate; 1.08% annualized operating expenses

Those are the advertised annual distribution yields as I’m writing this, and the average of the four ETFs’ yields is 56.13%. Be aware, that these yields are subject to changes in the future, and they varied throughout the past 12 months.

Always Monitor Your Positions

Nevertheless, I enjoyed high yields and monthly distributions with the total of $170,000 invested in those four YieldMax funds. I picked NVDY and AAPL because I assumed that any asset based on NVIDIA and Apple, two technology titans, would be completely safe. Then, for portfolio diversification, I added YieldMax ETFs based on Bitcoin and gold miners.

Instead of frequently monitoring my positions, I just gleefully collected substantial cash payouts from NVDY, APLY, YBIT, and GDXY. Consequently, I didn’t pay much attention to the high operating fees associated with these four YieldMax funds; YBIT’s nearly 5% worth of operating expenses undoubtedly impacted my bottom line.

I also didn’t bother to monitor the ETFs’ distribution yields. They happened to stay high while I held the four YieldMax funds, but I was just lucky. YieldMax could have reduced or eliminated the monthly cash distributions at any time. 

Looking back, I’m now aware of two risks of these four YieldMax ETFs. Specifically, the high operating fees will drag on investors’ profit-and-loss profiles, and the eye-catching annual yields aren’t guaranteed for the future.

Still, because I was lucky, NVIDIA stock rose sharply during the past 12 months, and so did Apple stock, Bitcoin, and gold-mining stocks (generally speaking). As a result, I was able to capture sizable cash distributions month after month from NVDY, APLY, YBIT, and GDXY.

It’s Not “Free Money”

Because I didn’t properly monitor my share positions, I neglected to watch the share prices of the four YieldMax funds. I assumed that, since the underlying stocks (and Bitcoin) moved up in price, the corresponding YieldMax ETFs would also rally.

After 12 months, however, I learned the hard way that the cash payouts from these four YieldMax funds aren’t “free money.” There are risks involved, especially as the ETFs’ share prices are susceptible to drawdowns.

Much of the four funds’ passive income is derived from the selling of covered call options. This type of strategy tends to limit the upside share-price potential of the ETFs, even if the underlying assets gain substantial share-price value.

In some instances, the YieldMax funds’ share prices could drop. I thought I would enjoy massive share-price gains, but here are the historical 12-month results (just the share-price changes, not including the distributions) as of August 16, 2025.

The NVDY ETF declined 32.28% even though NVDA stock gained 46.87% over the same one-year period.

Meanwhile, the APLY ETF shed 23.84% despite AAPL stock rising 3.06%.

Next, the YBIT ETF took a 25.84% haircut as the Bitcoin price rose 99.92%.

Finally, the GDXY ETF slid 16.84% during a year in which the GDX ETF surged 56.29%.

YieldMax YOLO Is a No-No

Ultimately, I spent a year at what I call “Stock Market University” to learn a harsh lesson. What I found out is that chasing sky-high yields with YieldMax funds while neglecting to monitor one’s positions can lead to unexpected outcomes.

Share-price losses can negatively offset the monthly cash payouts of NVDY, APLY, YBIT, and GDXY. And if there’s a rough year for NVDA, AAPL, Bitcoin, and gold-mining stocks, the yields of those four YieldMax ETFs could decline quickly.

Hence, even though I survived a full year invested in four YieldMax funds, I concluded that investors shouldn’t YOLO a six-figure account into these high-risk ETFs. Instead, be prudent and keep any positions in YieldMax ETFs to a small size, frequently keep tabs on your investments, and be ready to sell your shares if the risks are too much to handle.

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