Potential 13.94%* Monthly Income ETF | Are All Autocallables the Same?

A potentially high and stable 13.94% distribution rate as of May 31, 2026, often paid monthly, plus liquidity and possible tax efficiency. Let’s talk a bit more about the autocallable revolution that is happening in the ETF space right now! Here are the three topics that we’ll be discussing today:

1. Would autocallable ETFs fall into the Base or the Boost part of a portfolio?
2. Are all autocallable ETFs the same?  
3. How can investors buy autocallable ETFs like CAIE (Calamos Autocallable Income ETF)? 

👉 CAIE Deep-Dive: https://youtu.be/IWlhQtlPmls

⭐ More information on CAIE and full statutory disclosures can be found under https://www.calamos.com/funds/etf/calamos-autocallable-income-caie/  and https://pex.broadridge.com/summary.asp?doctype=spro&cid=calamos&fid=12811T571

👉  Most recent 19a: https://www.calamos.com/globalassets/media/pdfs/distributions/calamos-autocallable-income-etf-19a-notice.pdf

Transcript

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A potentially high and stable 13.94% distribution rate as of May 31st, 2026, often paid monthly, plus liquidity and possible tax efficiency. Let's talk a bit more about the autocallable revolution that is happening in the ETF space right now. Hello, Diamond Estee Member Super Savers and Course fans. I hope you're healthy and well. So, as some of you may recall, auto-callables are not a new invention. They've been around since the early 2000s in Europe and Asia as a popular instrument for income-seeking investors and are also a well-established $100 plus billion dollar asset class in the US. However, in our country, they have traditionally been offered mainly by the likes of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to high net worth and ultra-high net worth investors in the form of unlisted notes that are not liquid. Well, that changed when Calamos launched its autocallable income ETF, Ticker C A I E, which Calamos pronounces as CAI. Kai trades on the New York Stock Exchange and was the first ETF to make autocallables liquid and easily accessible, and it appears to have kicked off an autocallable revolution in the ETF space. CHI celebrated its one-year anniversary and its first billion dollars of total assets recently, and we posted this deep dive on the occasion. Link below for your convenience. I highly recommend watching that video after you're done with this one if you're new to autocallables or if you need a refresher. It really breaks down what autocallables and their risks are, how an autocallable ETF like CHI was able to generate its 13.94% distribution rate as of May 31st, 2026, and it gives our personal opinion on who might want to consider CHI or not for their own portfolio. Now, autocallables can be complex and they're not for everyone. So let's address some of the top questions and comments that our Diamond Nestec VIP members and regulars have sent our way since the CHI video was posted just a few days ago. Here are the three topics they'll be discussing today. One, would autocallable ETFs fall into the base or the boost part of a portfolio? Two, are all autocallable ETFs the same? And three, how can investors buy autocallable ETFs like CHI? Let's dive in now folks. Would autocallable ETFs fall into the base or the boost part of a portfolio? As a quick recap, here are the two key components to a diamond Nastic base and boost strategy. The base part, this locks in the required income to cover your everyday essential living expenses in retirement. The base part of the strategy should mainly be oriented towards safe, stable, and predictable income that lasts a lifetime. These include Social Security, a private or company pension, if any, and annuities that guarantee a lifelong income, like single premium immediate annuities, SPIS, and fixed index annuities, fias with an income rider, and maybe lattered longer-term multi-year guaranteed annuities, MIGAs, treasuries, and or similarly safe non-callable bonds. For example, for an investor who is in the highest tax brackets and able to find non-callable AAA munis that fit his or her time horizon, these might be a potential possibility as well for the base. Another option for the base part of a portfolio might be non-callable high-quality corporate bonds. Some of our Diamond Nestec members and regulars may also have some CDs laddered in their base, but these will typically be for the shorter maturities, under five years, for example. The boost part, this should protect you against inflation, help build generational wealth, andor be a source for discretionary spending. For example, for the special people, things, or causes in your life. The boost part is where you may want to take some controlled risk for possibly higher returns and or income. But it may fluctuate over time. So you would not necessarily rely on it for your everyday essential expenses like you would for the base part of the portfolio. And that's why autocallable ETFs fall into the boost part of a portfolio, in our opinion. Remember that one of the easiest ways for a fixed income community to think about an autocallable is like a bond whose income in principle depend on the stock market not falling too far. The autocallable pays a regular coupon, potentially with a double-digit distribution rate and often monthly. But when an underlying market index, such as the SP 500, drops too steeply, the coupon may be suspended. And if a bad bear market lasts until the autocallable matures, the investor may participate in the losses in the index with his or her principal as well. In other words, with autocallable ETFs, neither the potential double-digit coupons nor the return of principal are guaranteed, and you cannot necessarily depend on them to provide you a safe, stable, and predictable income that lasts a lifetime. And if an income stream is not guaranteed for life, it does not belong in the base part of a portfolio, in our opinion. No experiments or unnecessary risk taking here. That said, if you have your base covered and you have the risk appetite for it, auto-callable ETFs like CHI, for example, may certainly be something to consider for the boost part of your portfolio, where their potentially high and stable double-digit coupons might be welcome as an extra source of cash. Again, please refer back to our deep dive link below to make sure you fully understand the risk return profile of an auto-callable ETF investment like HI. When implemented properly, our Diamond Nestec Base and Boost strategy may help you to lay the foundation for comfortable and confident retirement by building up your sleep well at night portfolio first, just as we expect to do it for ourselves at some point in our later years, because you know you'll have enough income to cover your day-to-day basic living expenses for as long as you live. At the same time, you may still be able to invest in some higher yielding assets in the boost part of your portfolio. For example, autocallable ETFs or some of the dividend funds that Marcus has been covering in his dividend fund miniseries. Also linked below for your convenience. For those of you who've asked, Marcus will be covering FDVV, Fidelity's High Dividend ETF, as part of this miniseries very soon. But back to auto-callables for today. And the next question that some of you might be asking yourself if your interest in autocallables has been peaked. Are all auto-callable ETFs the same? As many of us know, most large plain vanilla SP 500 index funds are pretty much the same because they track the same 500 companies in the SP 500 index. So, for example, it doesn't really matter whether you invest in Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard's SP 500 index fund. The performance across all three will be more or less similar, with any minor deviations mostly attributable to differences in the expense ratio that each fund charges. This is not the case with autocallable ETFs. Similar to the dividend funds that Marcus has talked about recently, not all autocallable ETFs are the same, and it does matter which specific autocallable ETF you choose. As I mentioned at the start of this video, when Calamos launched CAI in June of 2025, it was the first ETF to make autocallables liquid and easily accessible to all investors and has over $1 billion in assets as of the time of this taping on June 26, 2026. And building on the success of CAI, Calamos itself has launched two additional autocallable funds, all with very different risk profiles. CHI, as the first autocallable ETF in the US, is based on the SP 500 via its reference index, the Mercube US large cap fall or volatility advantage index. CIQ, the next one that was launched, is based on the NASDAQ 100 via its reference index, the Mercube NASDAQ 100 fall advantage index. And Cage, Calamos's newest auto-callable ETF, just launched in April of this year. It's again very different. Cage does not pay a regular income, but has been designed as a wealth accumulation vehicle that seeks to use the extra return that autocallables may potentially generate to compound at a greater rate than the SP 500 over time. And that's just Calamos offering three different autocallable ETFs for different purposes. Other issuers have been bringing a whole range of new autocallable ETFs on the market as well, with different underlying constructions, benchmarks, and volatility targets. Some autocallable ETFs remain tied to stock indices, like Calamos's products, while others can be based on single stocks or other formulas. You may be able to see from these examples alone that the risk return profile and potential performance of different autocallable ETFs can vary a lot. Auto-callable ETFs are clearly a new, growing, and complex category that some in our community may find interesting. But it's important that you take the time to understand how the exact auto-callable ETF that you might be considering works so that you won't have any unpleasant surprises later on. So if there are any special autocallable ETFs that you find interesting and or want to learn more about, leave a comment below for me and Marcus and we'll see what we can pull together if there's enough interest. And let's move on now to the next part of today's discussion. How can investors buy auto-callable ETFs like Kai? So, as we explained, autocallables are not straightforward and may take some time and effort to understand. And historically, it was only high net worth and ultra high net worth investors who were able to purchase them as unlisted illiquid notes from the likes of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. Or put another way, it was not just autocallables themselves that were complex, but the way of getting exposure to them had a certain mystique about it as well. You basically needed access to an advisor and probably were not able to add any auto-callables to your portfolio yourself. Now, this all seems to be changing. Our videos try to play a part in demystifying what auto callables are and how they work. And autocallable ETFs like Kai mean that almost everyone can buy them online via most brokerage platforms just as easily as you would buy an SP 500 fund or any other ETF from Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, or any other leading online broker. So let's take Kai as our autocallable ETF example again and go to my dashboard on Fidelity. All we need to do is click on trade, and from the pop-up box that appears, I'll leave this at stocks or ETFs. Here I'll select the account that I want to purchase Kai in. Here I'll enter Kai's ticker. In the action box, I'll select Buy from the pop-up menu, just to keep things simple in this instance. Here I'll enter the number of shares I want to purchase. And when I click on order type, I have the option to choose market, limit, or any of the other options here. And for the time enforced, I can choose day, good till cancelled, or any of the other selections here. So basically, the process for buying and or selling Kai or any other auto-callable ETF is the same on Schwab, Vanguard, and eTrade as if you were buying an SP 500 fund or any other ETF. No need to be super wealthy or have access to an advisor, like in the past with auto-callables. You could even buy as little as one auto-callable ETF share if you wanted. Of course, you still need to make sure you understand what you're buying, and that may still require more time and effort than for an SP 500 fund. And while our videos try to do their part in helping you, a video alone may not always be enough, and you may have additional questions, or just want to find a group of like-minded investors who are willing to compare notes and share perspectives. And if that's you, come on over and join the growing member community in our VIP Investment Club. Visit our website at www.diamondnestic.com and click on this yellow private VIP Investment Club button to learn more and join us today. I've also linked everything below this video for you. Now, if on the other hand you're an advisor or other professional who's interested in looking at Kai as an instrument in your toolkit that seeks high stable monthly income with liquidity and tax efficiency elements for your clients, and you don't want to spend all your time and effort managing individual auto-callable notes, email us at jennifer at diamondnestic.com and we'll send you Kalamos's exclusive auto-callable playbook and connect you directly with our trusted contact at the firm. Alright, Diamond Nestic members, Super Savers and Course fans, I hope you enjoyed today's video and learned something new. And see you again very soon in our VIP Investment Club or here on YouTube with more brand new wealth building content for your financial journey.