DIVZ vs VUS

DIVZCPolen Dividend Income ETF

VUSBVirtus U.S. Dividend ETF

In short

DIVZ About 30 stocks, picked one at a time, with a value lens and a monthly payout. DIVZ is the stock-picker's answer to the dividend index screen, aiming for a higher yield and lower volatility than the S&P 500.

VUS An AI-assisted dividend fund at a passive-fund price. A quant model reads sentiment and valuation, humans make the final call, and it charges 0.25%, less than half the typical active US dividend ETF.

Stated mandate

DIVZ The actively managed fund seeks capital appreciation with lower volatility and a higher dividend yield than the S&P 500 Index.

VUS The Fund seeks current income and, secondarily, long-term capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• DIVZ Actively managed, not rules-screened: the mandate targets capital appreciation with lower volatility and a higher dividend yield than the S&P 500.
• Pays monthly, so the income arrives on the same rhythm as most bills instead of in quarterly lumps.
• A value discipline sits underneath the yield, aiming at cheaper cash generators rather than whatever pays the most today.
• Roughly 30 names, all US-listed. Every position is a real decision, not index filler.

• VUS 0.25% a year, under half the 0.55% median for active US dividend ETFs and cheaper than every top-graded name in the cohort (CGDV, HIDV, MBOX, BGIG, TDVG).
• The engine: a proprietary alpha model using AI-powered language processing for sentiment plus valuation factors. Virtus portfolio managers make the final trading calls.sec.gov
• About 90 US-listed dividend payers, with at least 80% of net assets in them. Focused enough for picks to register, wide enough to spread single-name risk.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• DIVZ At 0.65% a year it sits above the typical fee in its dividend-income group, and active peers like CGDV (0.33%) and TDVG (0.50%) charge less.
• Concentration cuts both ways: with about 30 holdings, a single stumble moves the fund far more than it would in a broad index.
• Volume is thin next to the giant dividend ETFs, so spreads and limit orders matter more here.

• VUS Launched December 2025 with a small asset base and light volume, so spreads can run wider than the cohort's household names and live history on the model is short.
• The prospectus lets the fund put more than 15% of assets in a single sector, so the portfolio can lean hard into a few corners of the market.sec.gov
• Income arrives annually or semiannually rather than monthly, so the cash shows up in lumps.

Full DIVZ profile⁠

Full VUS profile⁠