My fund pays out more than it earns - is that my own money coming back?
A fund can pay a set amount each month whether or not it earned that much. The yearly report says how much of the payout was income and how much was not.
The report calls the part that was not income a "return of capital"; a set monthly amount is a "managed distribution".
Three sources of a payout
A payout can come from the income the fund's holdings earned (interest and dividends), from gains it made selling holdings, or from neither - in which case it is simply part of your own money handed back. The share price and the value of the holdings fall by the same amount the day it is paid.
Why it is not always bad
A fund that sold a holding at a gain and pays that out is not shrinking. A fund that pays a fixed amount every month can have quiet months when the payout runs ahead of income and catches up later. And getting your own money back is not taxed as income - it lowers what you paid for the shares instead, which matters when you sell.
When it is worth a closer look
When the part that was not income is large year after year, the value of the holdings tends to shrink, and a fund that shrinks eventually cuts the payout. Our fund pages show three years side by side: what was paid, how much of it was the holders' own money, and the size of the fund - each line with its date and the report it came from.
Funds whose latest yearly payout was mostly the holders' own money back
- NBXG - Neuberger Next Generation Connectivity Fund
paid $1.22 a share in the year ended Oct 31, 2025; $1.22 of it was the holders' own money back, not income. - BTX - BlackRock Technology & Private Equity Term Trust
paid $0.90 a share in the year ended Dec 31, 2025; $0.90 of it was the holders' own money back, not income. - GGT - Gabelli Multimedia Trust
paid $0.88 a share in the year ended Dec 31, 2025; $0.88 of it was the holders' own money back, not income. - EARN - Ellington Credit Co
paid $0.96 a share in the year ended March 31, 2026; $0.96 of it was the holders' own money back, not income. - FAX - abrdn Asia-Pacific Income Fund
paid $1.98 a share in the year ended Oct 31, 2025; $1.94 of it was the holders' own money back, not income.
From each fund's latest yearly report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; each line links to the fund's page, where the three-year table is. Checked Sept 18, 2026.