DLN vs SCHD

DLNAWisdomTree U.S. LargeCap Dividend Fund

SCHDASchwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF

In short

DLN Most dividend funds sort by yield or by streaks of raises. DLN sorts by dollars: the more cash a company is projected to pay out, the bigger its weight. Roughly 300 US large caps, dividend-weighted since 2006, paid out monthly.

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

DLN The Fund seeks to track the investment results of dividend-paying large-cap 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

• DLN Weights holdings by projected cash dividends, not yield, so the biggest actual payers get the biggest slice. A different sort order than most large-cap dividend funds.sec.gov
• At 0.28% a year, it undercuts the typical fund in its dividend-screen peer group, where the median runs 0.39%.
• Pays monthly rather than quarterly, and has run the same dividend-weighted playbook since its 2006 launch.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that stays close to its stated index, and one of the stronger implementations in the US dividend-screen group.

• 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

• DLN Cheap for its cohort, not cheap outright: VIG, SCHD and DGRO all charge under a tenth of a percent.
• Dividend dollars drive the weights, so the largest payers dominate. No dividend-growth-streak or quality screen sits behind the weighting.sec.gov
• Weights are set once a year at the index measurement date, so between resets the mix drifts with share prices.sec.gov

• 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 DLN profile⁠

Full SCHD profile⁠