CDL vs VIG

CDLBVictoryShares US Large Cap High Div Volatility Wtd ETF

VIGAVanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

In short

CDL CDL sizes its positions by volatility instead of company size: roughly 100 high-yielding US large caps, with the calmer names getting the wider berth. Income lands monthly.

VIG VIG buys dividend growth, not fat yields: about 300 US companies with a record of raising their payouts, tracked for 0.04% a year. Running since 2006 and now north of $100 billion, it is the plain-vanilla anchor of the dividend-screen aisle.

Stated mandate

CDL The fund seeks to track the performance of the CEMP US Large Cap High Dividend 100 Volatility Weighted Index before fees and expenses. It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in stocks included in that index.

VIG The fund seeks to track the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index, which represents common stocks of companies with a record of increasing dividends over time.

Why people hold it

• CDL The index screens US large caps for high dividends, then weights the survivors by volatility, so a stock's slot is set by how it trades, not how big it is.
• Pays monthly, a smoother cadence than the calendar most equity income portfolios run on.
• Running since 2015 and still doing the advertised job: at least 80% of net assets in its index's names, tracked closely.
• Lands in the upper half of a crowded dividend-screen field, with the underlying basket among its stronger features.

• VIG At 0.04% a year, the fee is roughly a tenth of the typical dividend-screen fund's 0.39%, and undercuts every other top-graded fund in the group, DGRO and SCHD included.
• The screen rewards a record of increasing dividends rather than the biggest current payout, so the basket leans on payout discipline instead of stretched yields.
• Live since 2006, over $100 billion in assets and actively traded, which shows up as easy fills rather than wide spreads.
• About 300 holdings, cash paid quarterly, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its dividend-screen peer group.

Worth knowing

• CDL The 0.39% fee sits right at the peer median, but big index-tracking rivals like SCHD (0.06%), VIG (0.04%) and DGRO (0.08%) run at a fraction of it.
• Thinly traded for the category, so spreads can be wider at the moment you place an order.
• A yield screen plus volatility weighting builds a portfolio that looks little like a cap-weighted index, so it moves on its own schedule.

• VIG Growth of payouts, not maximum income, is the mandate. That puts it on a different axis than high-dividend funds such as SPYD.
• US stocks only, no bonds and no overseas payers, and sector weights are whatever the index screen spits out.
• Portfolio risk and concentration measures land mid-pack for the category: it is fully invested in equities and drops when the market drops.

Full CDL profile⁠

Full VIG profile⁠