Weekly House Score — Issue #3

Score changes

Twenty-one cards moved from good to warn this week, and none moved the other way. Twenty of the twenty-one moved on one rule: the expense-ratio fail line in section 7 of the House thresholds, which fails any dividend or sector ETF charging more than 0.30% a year. The twenty are SDOG, DEM, DHS, DIV, DLS, DOL, DON, DVY, DWX, FDL, FVD, GCOW, IDOG, IDV, IQDY, IYR, JHMD, PEY, RDIV, and RDVY, each charging 0.36% to 0.63% a year. The twenty-first, GOOGL, moved on yield: 0.27%, below the 1% floor in section 1, harmonized with the GOOG card. No card moved to bad, and no warn or bad card moved up. The full list, with each card's fee, is on the ledger page.

Library growth is not a grade change, but it is the week's other big number. Eighty-nine new cards joined the library on October 28 and 29 through the quality filter: 87 in the filter build plus RSPR and ENB in the follow-up, taking the library from 548 to 637 live cards plus the retired AVB stub. New cards were graded warn in most cases, good in nineteen, and bad in one, QQQY, a yield trap. The expansion queue is now empty.

Coverage watch

MAIN (Main Street Capital) — the preliminary Q3 estimate stands: distributable net investment income of $0.94 to $0.98 a share against $0.795 of regular dividends for the quarter, covering the regular dividend 1.18 to 1.23 times. Full Q3 results land Thu Nov 5 after close, the evening before the Nov 6 ex-date, so the final figure is readable before any ex-date decision. The regular monthly dividend stays $0.265 a share for November and December.

O (Realty Income) — the 676th consecutive monthly dividend went ex-dividend Fri Oct 30: $0.2715 a share, payable Nov 13. Q3 results come Mon Nov 2 after close. What that report tests is occupancy, funds from operations, and guidance, the three inputs behind whether the monthly dividend keeps its footing.

Earnings week, through the House funds. Chevron, inside SCHD, reported adjusted earnings of $5.28 a share with refining doing the lifting, and declared the $1.78 quarterly dividend again, payable Dec 10, the rate set for a 39th consecutive annual increase. Exxon Mobil, a library card and not a SCHD holding, reported adjusted earnings of $4.23 a share and raised its dividend 3.9% to $1.07, a 44th straight annual increase. Dominion Energy, inside VPU, reported operating earnings of $1.28 a share, reaffirmed full-year guidance of $3.45 to $3.69, and reaffirmed its dividend guidance including $2.67 for 2026. AbbVie, inside JEPI, reported adjusted earnings of $3.82 a share, raised full-year guidance, and raised its dividend 5.2% to $1.82 starting with the February 16, 2027 payment. Amazon, inside QQQ and JEPQ, grew AWS revenue 39.3% but guided a softer fourth quarter and sharply higher capital spending; Amazon pays no dividend, so the watch item is growth spending, not House income.

JEPI and JEPQ November amounts are still unannounced as of the October 30 check. JPMorgan confirms each fund's amount shortly before its ex-date, so the amount lines in the week ahead stay blank rather than estimated. October remains the latest actual month: JEPI $0.3413, JEPQ $0.56687.

Ex-dividend week ahead

JEPI — Mon Nov 2, amount not yet announced (Oct was $0.3413), payable Nov 4

JEPQ — Mon Nov 2, amount not yet announced (Oct was $0.56687), payable Nov 4

MAIN — Fri Nov 6, $0.265 regular, payable Nov 13

This is the cluster Issue #1 warned about. Anyone building a position in these names for the November income cycle needs to own them before those dates. For JEPI and JEPQ, the November amounts are still unannounced as of October 30: JPMorgan confirms each fund's amount shortly before its ex-date, so the amount lines above stay blank rather than estimated. No projected or third-party estimated range is used here. Only an issuer announcement counts.

Trap radar

JEPI / JEPQ headline yield vs current run-rate — unchanged, and the November check did not move it. With November amounts still unannounced, October remains the latest actual month: JEPQ paid $0.56687, down 16.9% from September's $0.68255; JEPI paid $0.3413, down about 8% from September's $0.3714. Trailing-12-month yields (about 11.7% JEPQ, about 8.0% JEPI) are backward-looking averages; the current monthly run-rate is lower. Not a quality verdict, covered-call distributions move with options premiums, but anyone annualizing the trailing yield is overstating what these funds are paying right now.

SDIV is now graded bad. The card moved from warn to bad on October 25. Its headline payout rate near 9% a year looks like income, but over ten years its total return was about flat, roughly negative 3%, despite those payouts: the distributions consumed principal instead of coming from it. Global X's own 2025 distribution notices estimated 19% to 30% of year-to-date distributions as return of capital. A high payout rate is not, by itself, evidence the income is sustainable.

QQQY joined the library graded bad, in the Yield trap room, the only bad grade among the 89 new cards this week.

One concept, explained — why fees move grades

A fund's expense ratio is the slice of your money the fund keeps every year, win or lose. A fund charging 0.60% keeps 60 cents of every $100 every year; a fund charging 0.10% keeps 10 cents. The difference compounds: over ten years, the higher fee quietly takes several percent of the position, and it takes it out of the same pool the dividend comes from.

That is why the House test grades fees as their own check. For dividend and sector ETFs, section 7 of the thresholds passes fees at or below 0.10%, calls 0.10% to 0.30% a caution, and fails anything above 0.30%. A failed expense check moves a good card to warn on its own, even when coverage and growth pass: the payout may be covered, but the fee is a permanent leak in the bucket.

Twenty cards moved on that rule this week, with fees from 0.36% to 0.63%. None of them cut a dividend or broke coverage. The grade moved because the cost of holding them is higher than the House test allows for a good grade. If a fee falls to 0.30% or below, the check passes again and the card can move back.

Sources checked 2026-10-30

Grade changes: House ledger and card change log, October 29, 2026: twenty expense-ratio re-grades under the October 28 section 7 enforcement ruling, and GOOGL on the section 1 sub-1% yield rule. Library count 637 live cards plus the retired AVB stub, per the card registry, October 29, 2026.

Chevron Q3 2026 release, October 30, 2026: adjusted earnings $5.28 a share; $1.78 quarterly dividend declared, payable December 10, 2026.

Exxon Mobil Q3 2026 release, October 30, 2026: adjusted earnings $4.23 a share; dividend raised to $1.07 a share from $1.03, payable December 10, 2026.

Dominion Energy Q3 2026 release, October 30, 2026: operating earnings $1.28 a share; full-year 2026 operating guidance $3.45 to $3.69 reaffirmed; dividend guidance including $2.67 for 2026 reaffirmed.

AbbVie Q3 2026 release, October 30, 2026: adjusted earnings $3.82 a share; full-year adjusted guidance raised to $13.95 to $13.99; dividend raised to $1.82 beginning with the February 16, 2027 payment.

Amazon Q3 2026 release, October 29, 2026: AWS revenue $46.0 billion, up 39.3%; 2026 cash capital spending near $220 billion.

Realty Income 676th monthly dividend declaration (PR Newswire, Oct 13, 2026): $0.2715 a share, record Oct 30, 2026, payable Nov 13, 2026; Q3 results Mon Nov 2, 2026 after close.

MAIN dividend schedule: regular $0.265 a share for November and December; ex Fri Nov 6, 2026, payable Nov 13, 2026; preliminary Q3 distributable net investment income $0.94 to $0.98 a share (company release, Oct 15, 2026); full Q3 results Thu Nov 5, 2026 after close.

JEPI/JEPQ November distributions: fund dividend calendars confirm the Mon Nov 2 ex-date and Nov 4 pay date for both funds and state the November amounts are not yet announced as of October 30, 2026; no issuer (JPMorgan) November announcement was found. October actuals: JEPI $0.3413, JEPQ $0.56687 (both ex Oct 1).

SDIV: card figures per the October 19, 2026 snapshot and Global X 2025 distribution notices; verdict moved warn to bad October 25, 2026.

Educational tool only

Not investment advice, and no score is a recommendation to buy or sell any security.