BFOR vs VYM

BFORCBarron's 400 ETF

VYMAVanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

In short

BFOR A famous stock list turned into a fund. BFOR follows the Barron's 400 Index, a rules-based screen for growth at a reasonable price plus quality in US stocks, and it has run that playbook since 2013.

VYM The no-frills dividend workhorse. VYM buys the higher-yielding end of the US market, roughly 600 names, for four basis points: no quality screen, no dividend-growth-streak test, just yield, at scale since 2006.

Stated mandate

BFOR The fund seeks to track the performance of the Barron's 400 Index before fees and expenses.

VYM The Fund seeks to track a benchmark index measuring the investment return of common stocks from companies characterized by high dividend yields.

Why people hold it

• BFOR Tracks the Barron's 400 Index tightly. For a rules-based fund that is the whole job, and this one does it with very little drift.alpsfunds.com
• One basket, roughly 400 US companies, screened for growth at a reasonable price plus quality. No single name carries the portfolio.
• Live since 2013, so the screen has been through real markets rather than a backtest deck.

• VYM Four basis points a year, against a peer-group median near 0.32%. Cheaper than cohort neighbors VONV (0.06%) and FNDX (0.25%).
• Running since 2006 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so ordinary orders tend to fill at tight spreads.
• Simple mandate: track the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index of US common stocks screened on yield. No manager discretion, no options overlay, plain 1940-Act fund.vanguard.com
• Pays quarterly, and among 100-plus value and multifactor rivals it stands as one of the strongest overall packages in the group.

Worth knowing

• BFOR At 0.65% a year, it charges about double the typical US multifactor fund, and well above big rivals like FNDX (0.25%) or VONV (0.06%).
• Thinly traded. Spreads can widen, so limit orders matter more here than with the mega-funds in the category.
• Sits in the lower half of its US multifactor peer group, driven by cost and trading friction rather than by how it follows its index.

• VYM The screen is yield, not payout growth or dividend quality, so a company can qualify simply because its share price fell.
• This is a value slice by design, tilted to established payers, so it behaves differently from a total US market fund.
• Roughly 600 holdings, but weight leans toward the largest payers, so the top of the roster does more of the work than the count suggests.

Full BFOR profile⁠

Full VYM profile⁠