Tired of money market funds? Check out this weekly paying low-risk ETF

There's been a lot of talk about how ETFs are slowly cannibalizing the mutual fund industry. In some cases, it's happening through outright conversions. In others, it's happening through ETF share classes becoming more common in 2026. But one area that has remained surprisingly resilient is money market mutual funds.

These funds invest in ultra short-term, high-quality fixed income securities. Depending on the type, that can include certificates of deposit, commercial paper, repurchase agreements, U.S. Treasuries, and even municipal securities. Their resilience is striking: money market fund assets recently touched a record $7.92 trillion in June 2026 before settling to approximately $7.89 trillion by mid-July, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Whether you're looking at prime, government, or municipal money market funds, they all share one defining feature: a fixed $1 per share net asset value (NAV). In practice, outside of extreme events like the 2008 financial crisis, they've been able to maintain that stable price floor. When they can't, it's known as "breaking the buck."

That said, money market funds have their friction points. Many still require minimum investments in the thousands of dollars, and expense ratios in the 0.30% to 0.40% range are not uncommon, especially among larger fund providers.

Moving into an ETF can ease some of those constraints. Lower fees, intraday liquidity, and the ability to trade like a stock with tight bid-ask spreads are meaningful advantages. And in at least one case, you can get paid even more frequently than the typical monthly cycle: once a week.

The catch is that the ETF's NAV is not fixed at $1. It typically trades around $100. In practice, however, it behaves very similarly to a money market fund and sits among the lowest-risk bond ETFs available.

Get Paid Weekly With Treasury Bills

Treasury bills do not pay interest in the traditional coupon sense. When you buy one directly through TreasuryDirect, you purchase it at a discount to face value, and at maturity you receive the full face value. That spread is your return.

Investors who want regular income from T-bills typically build a ladder, buying bills maturing in one month, two months, and three months, then reinvesting the proceeds as each matures. It works, but it requires ongoing attention and reinvestment discipline.

For a more hands-off approach, the Roundhill Weekly T-Bill ETF (CBOEBZX:WEEK) does that work automatically. Launched in March 2025, the fund actively manages a portfolio of Treasury bills with maturities between zero and three months, then passes the income to shareholders every week. Its expense ratio is 0.19%, confirmed by SEC filings.

WEEK also sits within a broader Roundhill "Weekly Pay" product family. That lineup includes more aggressive options such as the Roundhill Palantir WeeklyPay Strategy ETF (NASDAQ:PLTW), which uses options to generate significantly higher distributions, and the Roundhill Top WeeklyPay Strategy ETF (NASDAQ:TOPW), which takes a diversified approach to weekly income and carries a larger asset base than WEEK. For investors who want weekly cash flow without taking on equity-linked risk, WEEK remains the conservative anchor of the family.

The fund trades with tight bid-ask spreads, often around a penny, with solid average daily volume and a low cost of entry near $100 per share. Fractional share availability at many brokerages can lower the bar even further. With approximately $175 million in assets under management as of mid-July 2026, WEEK is well past the size threshold where closure risk becomes a concern.

The goal is to keep the NAV stable over time. In practice, the share price edges up gradually as interest accrues through each week, then steps down slightly after each distribution, repeating the cycle. The pattern is predictable and closely mirrors how a money market fund's yield accumulates, just with weekly rather than monthly settlements.

How Much Yield Can You Expect?

Money market funds typically quote income using a 7-day SEC yield, while Treasury bill ETFs use a 30-day SEC yield. The two numbers are calculated differently, so comparing them directly requires a bit of context.

As of mid-July 2026, with the effective federal funds rate holding at 3.63% and the Fed's target range at 3.50% to 3.75%, WEEK carries an annualized forward dividend yield of approximately 3.47%. The 3-month Treasury bill itself was yielding around 3.71%, and WEEK's net yield reflects that gross rate minus the fund's 0.19% expense ratio. The June 2026 FOMC meeting produced a unanimous vote to hold rates steady, though the accompanying Dot Plot showed a possible hiking bias among some members, which could eventually push short-term yields higher.

Investors looking for more income might consider "enhanced" T-bill products such as the NEOS Enhanced Income 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (NASDAQ:CSHI). Where WEEK sticks to a pure T-bill strategy for simplicity and weekly payouts, enhanced competitors layer options overlays on top of the Treasury holdings to attempt to out-earn the standard bill yield while maintaining a similar credit risk profile.

WEEK distributes income weekly, and Roundhill maintains a public distribution calendar so shareholders know the exact declaration, ex-dividend, and payment dates in advance. Payouts vary slightly week to week, tracking the prevailing bill yield rather than a fixed rate, so investors should treat quoted yields as forward estimates rather than guarantees.

One structural advantage worth noting is tax treatment. Because WEEK holds U.S. Treasury bills, the income is generally exempt from state and local taxes. For investors in high-tax states like New York or California, that exemption can raise the effective after-tax yield meaningfully when compared to a fully taxable high-yield savings account offering a similar headline rate.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with data current as of mid-July 2026, including WEEK's AUM revised to $175 million, the annualized forward dividend yield revised to approximately 3.47%, the 3-month T-bill yield updated to approximately 3.71%, and new context on money market fund assets approaching $7.89 trillion and the June 2026 FOMC's unanimous hold at the 3.50%-3.75% target range.

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