EFAS vs IGRO

EFASCGlobal X MSCI SuperDividend EAFE ETF

IGROAiShares International Dividend Growth ETF

In short

EFAS EFAS skips the broad income net: it takes the 50 highest-yielding stocks in developed Europe, Australasia and the Far East, weights them equally, and resets once a year. A yield-first, concentrated take on international income, paid monthly.

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

EFAS EFAS seeks investment results that generally correspond to the performance of the MSCI EAFE Top 50 Dividend Index before fees and expenses.

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

• EFAS The mandate is blunt: rank the developed-market EAFE universe by dividend yield, take the top 50, weight them equally. No cap-weighted dilution of the income screen.sec.gov
• Equal weighting plus an annual rebalance means a small Australian name carries the same load as a Swiss giant, tilting away from the mega-caps that anchor cap-weighted rivals.sec.gov
• Distributions land monthly, a cadence Global X has kept running since the fund launched in 2016.globalxetfs.com

• 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

• EFAS 0.55% a year sits above the peer-group median of 0.50%, and it is several times what VYMI (0.07%) or SCHY (0.08%) charge for international dividend exposure.
• About 50 equal-weighted names is a narrow base, and a top-of-the-yield-table screen pulls in value-priced stocks, so single companies and sectors move the fund hard.sec.gov
• It trades thinly next to the category's heavyweights, which puts more weight on limit orders and the spread at the point of entry.

• 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 EFAS profile⁠

Full IGRO profile⁠