Retirement Fortress vs Rising Income 177

How $10,000 would have grown in each — compared across total return, income, NAV, and risk.

Compared over their common history since Aug 2024.

Judge on

Window

WinnerRetirement Fortress

Low riskLow reward

2.4%

yield · $20/mo per $10k

Rising Income 177

Medium riskMedium reward

6.0%

yield · $50/mo per $10k

Retirement Fortress wins on total return (2–0, full common history).

Growth of $10,000 (dividends reinvested)

Retirement FortressRising Income 177Distributions reinvested · hypothetical, fixed weights

Total Return2–0

28.0%

Total Ret.

22.4%

14.8%

CAGR

12.0%

Income1–2

2.4%

Yield

6.0%

$20

Income

$50

0.51

Steadiness

0.67

Principal / NAVeven

21.8%

NAV

8.5%

-12.5%

Max DD

-6.7%

Riskeven

10.8

Risk-Adj.

5.0

1.64

Sortino

2.20

12.7%

Volatility

7.6%

1.9

Safety

2.2

Holdings overlap

0% overlap

Retirement Fortress only

SCHD 30%VYM 25%DGRO 20%VIG 15%DVY 10%

Shared

No shared holdings

Rising Income 177 only

BIL 15%QDVO 13%SDIV 13%AMLP 10%BKLN 10%CGCP 10%DHS 10%DIV 10%AMRFX 10%

The risk-first read

Retirement Fortress wins. Rising Income 177 dangles a bigger 6.0% headline yield, but after NAV erosion its total return (22.4%) trails Retirement Fortress's 28.0% — and at a higher risk tier (2.2 vs 1.9). The classic yield trap.

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Growth is a hypothetical, fixed-weight backtest with distributions reinvested at ex-date since Aug 2024 — no fees or taxes; past performance doesn't predict future results. How these numbers are computed. Not investment advice.