DEMZ vs EFIV

DEMZCDemocratic Large Cap Core ETF

EFIVAState Street SPDR S&P 500 ESG ETF

In short

DEMZ Most index funds sort companies by size or sector. DEMZ sorts them by politics: a passive US large-cap portfolio built from the DEMZ Political Contribution Index, running since 2020 for investors who want the screen to reflect their values.

EFIV A screened S&P 500 that still looks like one. EFIV trims to about 300 names on ESG criteria but holds industry-group weights close to the parent index, for 0.10% a year.

Stated mandate

DEMZ The Fund seeks to track the total-return performance of the DEMZ Political Contribution Index before fees and expenses. It uses passive indexing and generally invests in the Index’s component securities.

EFIV The Fund seeks to track an index of securities selected using environmental, social, and governance sustainability criteria while retaining industry-group weights broadly similar to the S&P 500 Index.

Why people hold it

• DEMZ The values screen is a published rulebook, not a manager's mood. DEMZ holds the components of a named index and follows it passively.
• Narrow, plainly stated job: track the DEMZ Political Contribution Index before fees, in US stocks. Little room to quietly drift into something else.
• Live since November 2020, so this is a fund with real operating history behind it rather than a freshly launched concept.

• EFIV Charges 0.10% a year, well under the 0.25% typical of its values-screened peer group.
• Keeps industry-group weights broadly similar to the S&P 500, so the screen changes which names you own more than which sectors.
• Tracks its declared index very tightly, one of the cleaner implementations in its cohort.
• Straightforward 1940 Act index fund from SPDR, running since 2020, distributing quarterly.

Worth knowing

• DEMZ 0.45% a year is ordinary for a themed index fund, but broad core wrappers price far lower: SCHK at 0.03% and VT at 0.06%.
• Small in assets and thinly traded. Limit orders matter more here than in mega-cap index funds, where shares change hands constantly.
• A political-contribution screen shrinks the eligible pool, so the holdings can look different from a plain US large-cap index.

• EFIV About 300 stocks, not 500. The screens remove names, so results can diverge from the headline S&P 500.
• Cheaper shelf-mates exist: XVV at 0.08% and ESGV at 0.09% undercut it on fee.
• Mid-size asset base and moderate trading volume, which can mean wider spreads than the mega-cap index giants.

Full DEMZ profile⁠

Full EFIV profile⁠