DVY vs VIG

DVYBiShares Select Dividend ETF

VIGAVanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

In short

DVY One of the original US dividend ETFs (2003). It starts with the high yielders, then makes them prove they can keep paying, landing on about 100 names from a rules-based screen rather than a market-cap sweep.

VIG VIG buys dividend growth, not fat yields: about 300 US companies with a record of raising their payouts, tracked for 0.04% a year. Running since 2006 and now north of $100 billion, it is the plain-vanilla anchor of the dividend-screen aisle.

Stated mandate

DVY The Fund tracks an index of relatively high dividend-paying U.S. equities, using a rules-based selection of high-yielding stocks with dividend sustainability and liquidity requirements.

VIG The fund seeks to track the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index, which represents common stocks of companies with a record of increasing dividends over time.

Why people hold it

• DVY Launched in 2003, one of the first dividend ETFs on the market, and today a multi-billion-dollar fund with two decades of live history behind the strategy.ishares.com
• The index screens for dividend sustainability and liquidity, not just a fat yield, so a name has to show it can keep the checks coming to get in.ishares.com
• Tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index closely, trades with everyday liquidity, and distributes quarterly.
• Among the stronger implementations in the US dividend-screen crowd: the fund delivers the mandate its documents describe, without structural asterisks.

• VIG At 0.04% a year, the fee is roughly a tenth of the typical dividend-screen fund's 0.39%, and undercuts every other top-graded fund in the group, DGRO and SCHD included.
• The screen rewards a record of increasing dividends rather than the biggest current payout, so the basket leans on payout discipline instead of stretched yields.
• Live since 2006, over $100 billion in assets and actively traded, which shows up as easy fills rather than wide spreads.
• About 300 holdings, cash paid quarterly, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its dividend-screen peer group.

Worth knowing

• DVY At 0.38% it sits near the middle of dividend screeners, but rivals like SCHD (0.06%) and VIG (0.04%) run their versions for a fraction of the fee.
• A yield-first screen of roughly 100 stocks leans toward mature, income-heavy industries, so sector weights can look nothing like a broad market fund.
• US equities only. Foreign dividend payers sit outside the mandate.

• VIG Growth of payouts, not maximum income, is the mandate. That puts it on a different axis than high-dividend funds such as SPYD.
• US stocks only, no bonds and no overseas payers, and sector weights are whatever the index screen spits out.
• Portfolio risk and concentration measures land mid-pack for the category: it is fully invested in equities and drops when the market drops.

Full DVY profile⁠

Full VIG profile⁠