DWX vs IGRO

DWXBState Street SPDR S&P International Dividend ETF

IGROAiShares International Dividend Growth ETF

In short

DWX DWX goes hunting for the fattest dividends outside the US: roughly 100 high yielders pulled from the S&P Global ex-US BMI, China A shares excluded. Yield first, and it has been running that playbook since 2008.

IGRO Dividend growth, not dividend yield, taken overseas. IGRO tracks a Morningstar index of non-US companies with a habit of raising their payouts, spread across roughly 500 names, for a fee that undercuts most of the international dividend shelf.

Stated mandate

DWX The Fund seeks to track the total return of the S&P International Dividend Opportunities Index, an index of high-yielding international common stocks selected from the S&P Global ex-U.S. BMI, excluding China A shares.

IGRO The fund seeks to track an index of international stocks with a history of growing dividends, providing dividend-focused international equity exposure for income and long-term growth.

Why people hold it

• DWX Yield-first by design. The index screens for high-yielding international common stocks rather than steady dividend growers, so the basket leans where payouts are richest.
• One of the older international dividend ETFs on the board, live since 2008, with a full market cycle of history behind the strategy.
• Tracks its benchmark tightly, one of the cleaner index implementations among international dividend funds, and the fee sits below the typical charge in that group.
• Concentrated on purpose: about 100 names, paying quarterly. You get a focused slice of global high-yield equity, not a 1,500-stock index blur.

• IGRO Costs 0.15% a year, well under the typical fee for an international dividend screen.
• Does what the label says: it follows the Morningstar Global ex-US Dividend Growth Index closely, one of the tightest index-to-portfolio matches in its peer group.
• Roughly 500 non-US payers, so no single dividend carries the fund. Cash goes out quarterly.

Worth knowing

• DWX It trades thinly for its size, so spreads can run wider than the household-name international dividend funds.
• At 0.45%, it costs several times what plain-vanilla rivals like VYMI, SCHY and VIGI charge. You are paying up for the high-yield screen.
• Chasing the highest yields abroad concentrates the fund in whichever sectors and countries are paying most at rebalance, a different risk mix than a broad international index.

• IGRO It trades thin next to heavyweights like VYMI, so limit orders and calmer mid-session trading matter more here.
• The screen targets payout growth, not the fattest yields, so income tends to run lighter than yield-first international funds.
• Cheaper neighbors exist: VIGI at 0.07% and SCHY at 0.08%, though each tracks a different index with a different holdings list.

Full DWX profile⁠

Full IGRO profile⁠