DEMZ vs SNPE

DEMZCDemocratic Large Cap Core ETF

SNPEAXtrackers S&P 500 Scored & Screened 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.

SNPE The S&P 500 with roughly 200 names screened out, for 0.10% a year. SNPE keeps the plumbing of a plain core index fund and lets S&P's rules, not a stock picker, decide who stays in the basket.

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.

SNPE The fund seeks investment results that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of its underlying 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.

• SNPE A 0.10% expense ratio puts it in the cheap seats of the screened-index crowd, alongside XVV (0.08%) and ESGV (0.09%) and well under the group's typical fee.
• Plain index plumbing: it aims to match the S&P 500 Scored & Screened Index before fees, and it has hugged that mandate closely.
• Roughly 300 stocks, so the screen actually bites. Around 200 S&P 500 members are cut outright rather than quietly trimmed.
• A multi-billion-dollar Xtrackers fund running since 2019 with steady daily volume and quarterly payouts. Not a thin, untested launch.

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.

• SNPE Cutting ~200 names concentrates what's left. The megacap leaders of the parent index end up carrying even more weight here.
• The screens are S&P's, not yours. They are rules-based and reapplied at each rebalance, so the roster can shift without warning.
• Not the outright cheapest option in the group: XVV and ESGV shave a basis point or two off the fee.

Full DEMZ profile⁠

Full SNPE profile⁠