Joel Income Journal
Real Income.
Real Portfolio.
Real Lessons.
Follow a family man's journey to financial freedom by 50 — every dividend, every trade, every month.
About
A family man on a mission to retire by 50.
I'm Joel, a husband and dad building a passive income portfolio — one dividend, one covered call, one month at a time.
Financial freedom by 50 is the goal. Enjoying the time with my happy family. Every week I share exactly what I'm buying, what my portfolio is earning, and what the numbers actually look like — no sugar-coating, no highlight reel.
If you're building something real for your family too, pull up a chair. The journal is open.
Newsletter
Latest Articles
Jun 12, 2026
May 2026 Monthly Income Report: My Strongest Month So Far
May 2026 was a month I genuinely want to bottle up and repeat.…
Read on Substack →
Jun 12, 2026
Your Income ETF Might Be Paying You Your Own Money Back
I scored 117 ETFs on the metric most income investors never check. Here’s what I found.…
Read →
Jun 8, 2026
I Built a Free ETF Research Tool. Here’s Why — and What I Need From You.
YieldScope is live. 117 income ETFs, AI-scored. This is the post where I explain why it exists and ask you to break it.…
Read →
May 29, 2026
How a Stable Salary Unlocks a Strategy Most People Think Is Too Risky
Using leverage wisely is something we don't learn in school…
Read →
May 18, 2026
6 Signs a High-Yield ETF Is a Yield Trap
And What I Would Research Instead…
Read →
Video
Latest Videos
Jun 14, 2026
Bitcoin Crashed 13% — Here's What's Actually Happening to My BTCI, XBCI & MSTY Income
Jun 10, 2026
ULTY Is Down 46% — But My Real Loss Is Way Lower (10-Month Review)
Watch →
Jun 8, 2026
My Best Month Yet — $5,686 From High-Yield ETFs and Options
Watch →
Jun 3, 2026
SATA Pays Dividends EVERY DAY — Is This Too Good To Be True?
Watch →
Jun 1, 2026
DDDD ETF: Is Doubling SCHD's Yield Worth the Trade-Off?
Watch →
Toolkit
Resources I Use
Tools and platforms that are part of my actual investing workflow — tested, used, and trusted.
Snowball Analytics
Portfolio tracker built for dividend investors. See your income growth, yield on cost, and projected annual income.
Visit site →IBKR (Interactive Brokers)
The broker I use for all my trades. Low fees, excellent options platform, and detailed statements.
Visit site →YieldScope
My own tool that uses AI to score 100+ high-yield ETFs on yield quality, NAV health, risk, and sustainability.
Visit site →Seeking Alpha
Where I research dividend history, earnings, and analyst commentary before buying.
Visit site →Endowus
The robo-adviser platform I used for years. Great for passive, low-cost investing in globally diversified funds.
Visit site →Free Resources
The Vault
Free guides and reports from my investing journey. Download, use, and share.
8 pages
Top 30 Income ETFs
AI-Scored · Yield Ranked · June 2026
My monthly YieldScope report ranking the top 30 high-yield ETFs by AI score — covering yield quality, NAV health, risk, and sustainability. No fluff, just the data.
Download Free ReportMore Coming Soon
Subscribe to the newsletter to get notified when new guides drop.
Subscribe on Substack →My Free Tool
YieldScope
I built YieldScope to cut through the noise on high-yield ETFs. It analyses 100+ income ETFs and uses AI to score each one on yield quality, NAV health, risk, and sustainability — so you know exactly what you're buying into.
No sign-up required. Open to everyone.