ACEP vs BGIG

ACEPCARS Core Equity Portfolio ETF

BGIGABahl & Gaynor Income Growth ETF

In short

ACEP A veteran New York boutique's long-running core equity strategy, wrapped in an ETF in late 2025: a human hunt for strong balance sheets, reasonable earnings growth and above-average dividend yields instead of an index screen.

BGIG An active dividend fund that writes the cushion into its own mandate: rising income, downside protection versus the broad market, and growth. Distributions land monthly, and it charges less than the typical active dividend-income fund.

Stated mandate

ACEP The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation while also generating current income.

BGIG The Fund seeks growing dividend income, downside protection relative to the broader equity market, and long-term capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• ACEP Real stock picking, not a screen: the sub-adviser targets US companies it deems high quality, judged on strong balance sheets, reasonable earnings growth and above-average dividend yields.etfarchitect.comsec.gov
• Not a blank slate. The prospectus prints the sub-adviser's separate-account composite for this same core equity strategy, which dates back to October 2011.etfarchitect.com
• 0.46% all in, gross and net identical with no waiver propping it up, and near the typical fee for active dividend-income ETFs. Cheaper peers exist: CGDV at 0.33%, VUS at 0.25%; BGIG sits at 0.45%.
• Among the roughly 40 active dividend-and-income equity ETFs we cover, this one already sits in the upper half of the pack.

• BGIG The stated objective names three jobs at once: growing dividend income, downside protection relative to the broader equity market, and long-term capital appreciation.
• Income arrives monthly, not on the quarterly schedule most equity funds keep.
• At 0.45% a year, it sits below the median fee for active US dividend-income funds.
• One of the strongest implementations in its peer group of active US dividend-income funds, with a portfolio that matches the mandate on the label.

Worth knowing

• ACEP It listed in November 2025, so the live ETF record is short and risk readings rest on limited history.
• Small and thinly traded, so spreads can run wider than on a household-name fund and bigger orders need more care at the screen.
• Current income is in the objective, but cash reaches shareholders on an annual or semiannual schedule, not monthly.

• BGIG Cheaper active dividend options exist: CGDV runs 0.33% and HIDV 0.35%.
• Hunting rising dividends means skipping most of the non-payers inside the S&P 500 it measures itself against, so results can look very different from the index.
• Launched in 2023, so there is no live record spanning a full market cycle yet.

Full ACEP profile⁠

Full BGIG profile⁠