DHS vs SCHD

DHSBWisdomTree U.S. High Dividend Fund

SCHDASchwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF

In short

DHS From the shop that made dividend weighting a thing. Since 2006, DHS has ranked US payers by yield, then weighted the survivors by the actual dollars of dividends they pay. Market cap never enters the math.

SCHD The dividend fund that checks the balance sheet before it checks the yield. SCHD only considers companies with 10 straight years of payouts, then ranks the survivors on cash flow, return on equity and dividend growth. Quality gate first, income second, at six basis points.

Stated mandate

DHS The fund seeks to track the investment results of high-dividend-yielding companies in the U.S. equity market.

SCHD The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100TM Index.

Why people hold it

• DHS Weighting runs on cash dividends paid, tilted by a value, quality and momentum risk score. Big payers get big weights, shaky ones get trimmed.wisdomtree.com
• Only the top 30% of eligible US payers by yield make the cut, and a name stays until it slips out of the top 35%. Deep screen, low churn.sec.gov
• Pays monthly, holds about 400 names, and caps sector weight at the lesser of 25% or 3x the market-cap version so no single yield-heavy sector runs the show.wisdomtree.com
• A 2006 original in the dividend-screen category, now a multi-billion-dollar fund still running the mandate it launched with.

• SCHD Charges 0.06% a year, near the floor for US equity ETFs and a fraction of what the typical dividend-screen fund costs.schwabassetmanagement.com
• The rulebook is strict: 10 consecutive years of dividends to qualify, then a composite rank on cash-flow-to-total-debt, return on equity, yield and five-year dividend growth.spglobal.com
• Index rules cap any single stock at 4.5% and any sector at 25%, so one hot name cannot quietly become the whole income stream.spglobal.com
• Running since 2011 and now among the largest, most heavily traded dividend ETFs, with tracking that stays very close to its index.

Worth knowing

• DHS The 0.38% fee sits at the middle of the dividend-screen pack, but the cheapest peers here (VIG at 0.04%, SCHD at 0.06%) charge a fraction of it.
• Trades thinly next to the category giants, so limit orders matter more here than in a fund that changes hands constantly.
• By design it buys today's highest yielders, not tomorrow's dividend growers. A different flavor of income than growth-screened peers like DGRO.

• SCHD Roughly 100 names, every one a long-time dividend payer. The fast-growing non-payers that drive much of the US market are not eligible, by design.spglobal.com
• The yield and quality screens tilt it toward mature, cash-generating sectors, so it looks nothing like a total-market fund. Distributions land quarterly, not monthly.spglobal.com
• Not the absolute cheapest shelf item: VIG runs 0.04% and DIVB 0.05%, though both screen for dividends differently.

Full DHS profile⁠

Full SCHD profile⁠