DIVI vs LVHI

DIVIAFranklin International Core Dividend Tilt Index ETF

LVHIAFranklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF

In short

DIVI A tilt, not a screen: DIVI optimizes a broad developed-markets ex-North America index toward higher yield while limiting drift from that parent. Core international shape, income lean, 0.09% a year.

LVHI Most international dividend funds hand you a currency bet you never asked for. LVHI tracks an index that hedges it away, then screens developed-market payers for high dividends, low volatility and real profits.

Stated mandate

DIVI The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Morningstar Developed Markets ex-North America Dividend Enhanced Select Index. Its index methodology seeks higher dividend yield than the parent index while maintaining core exposure to developed markets outside North America.

LVHI The fund tracks the Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Hedged Index, which targets profitable developed-market companies outside the United States with relatively high dividend yields and lower price and earnings volatility.

Why people hold it

• DIVI Costs 0.09% a year, while the median fund in its international-dividend cohort charges closer to 0.50%.
• The index takes a broad developed ex-North America benchmark and optimizes it for higher yield while limiting expected tracking error to that parent. Income lean, core shape.sec.gov
• Tracks its index closely, among the strongest implementations in its peer group.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund holding about 80 developed-market names, paying distributions quarterly.

• LVHI The word 'Hedged' sits right in the benchmark's name: the index neutralizes foreign-currency moves, so what reaches you is the dividend story rather than the FX story.
• Three filters, not one. The index targets profitable non-US developed companies with high yields and lower price and earnings volatility, so yield alone doesn't buy a spot.
• At 0.40% a year it comes in under the 0.50% median for international dividend-screen funds, which is unusual for a strategy carrying a built-in currency hedge.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively and pays quarterly, and it has been running since 2016, so there's a real track record to inspect.

Worth knowing

• DIVI The tilt is mild by design: the index caps how far it can drift from its parent, so it reaches for less yield than funds built on hard high-yield screens.sec.gov
• Cheaper options sit in the same cohort (VYMI at 0.07%, SCHY at 0.08%), so the fee edge is over the category median, not over the largest index shops.
• Today's strategy dates to 2022, when the fund was renamed from Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF, so its 2016-onward record covers a different mandate.sec.gov

• LVHI The hedge works in both directions: it damps the hit when the dollar rises and equally gives up the tailwind when the dollar falls.
• You pay for the machinery. Plain unhedged index peers such as VYMI (0.07%) and SCHY (0.08%) charge a fraction of LVHI's 0.40%.
• Developed markets outside the US only, roughly 190 stocks. No emerging-market dividend payers, and no US names to lean on.

Full DIVI profile⁠

Full LVHI profile⁠