AUGW vs PSFD

AUGWCAllianzIM U.S. Equity Buffer20 Aug ETF

PSFDBPacer Swan SOS Flex (January) ETF

In short

AUGW AUGW is the August rung of a twelve-fund ladder: a year of S&P 500 exposure up to a cap, with the first 20% of losses absorbed. Built by the in-house hedging desk behind Allianz Life's annuities, priced at the going rate for deep buffers.

PSFD Absorbs the first 20% of a drop in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust over each 12-month period, with your upside capped in exchange. One of the original 2020 Pacer/Swan buffer funds, and priced under most deep-buffer rivals.

Stated mandate

AUGW The fund seeks to match the returns of the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust over an outcome period, subject to an upside cap, while buffering the first 20% of losses.

PSFD The fund seeks to match the returns of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust up to a stated cap while mitigating specified downside losses through a structured buffer strategy over an approximately one-year period.

Why people hold it

• AUGW Deep end of the shelf: the first 20% of SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust losses over the one-year period are absorbed before fees, double the 10% tier AllianzIM sells alongside it.allianzim.com
• The hedging is in-house. AllianzIM is Allianz Life's own investment arm and runs these funds on the proprietary platform its affiliates use for hedged assets.allianzlife.com
• Resets each August 1 with a fresh 20% buffer and a newly struck cap, and it has monthly siblings across the calendar, so entry dates can be spread out.allianzim.com
• Plumbing is straightforward: FLEX options written on SPY itself, and the payoff has matched the buffer-and-cap shape its own documents describe.allianzim.com

• PSFD 0.49% a year versus a 0.74% median for 20%-buffer S&P 500 funds, undercutting the AllianzIM month-series lineup (JANW, APRW, JUNW). When upside is capped, fees come straight out of the ceiling.
• Deep cushion, clean reset: FLEX options are structured to absorb the first 20% of underlying losses over the roughly one-year period, with a new cap struck at the start of each period.paceretfs.com
• Siblings run the same recipe on other calendars (PSFM in April, PSFJ in July), so start dates can be staggered instead of pinned to one January strike. Standing sits in the upper half of the deep-buffer group.

Worth knowing

• AUGW At 0.74% the fee sits right at the deep-buffer median, and cheaper 20% buffer options exist: PSFJ and PSFM at 0.49%, PBFR at 0.50%.
• Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so the bid-ask spread you cross is part of what the protection costs.
• Upside stops at the cap and the buffer is measured from the August 1 start, so mid-period buyers work with different math than the headline terms.allianzim.com

• PSFD Thinly traded. Spreads can be wider and larger orders harder to fill than in the giants of the buffer aisle.
• No income stream: the fund holds options on an S&P 500 tracker rather than the stocks, and it has not paid a distribution.paceretfs.com
• Buffer and cap run start to finish of the period and are set before fees and expenses. Shares bought mid-period carry different remaining cushion and headroom.paceretfs.com

Full AUGW profile⁠

Full PSFD profile⁠