EGUS vs SCHG

EGUSCiShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Growth ETF

SCHGASchwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF

In short

EGUS Most ESG funds live in the middle of the market. EGUS moves the screen into the growth style box: it starts from MSCI's US large- and mid-cap growth universe, then optimizes toward better-rated ESG names while targeting risk and return close to the unscreened parent index.

SCHG Schwab's growth workhorse: roughly 200 large-cap U.S. growth names for four basis points, one of the cheapest tickets in a crowded category. Running since 2009 and among the most heavily traded growth funds around.

Stated mandate

EGUS The Fund seeks to track an index of U.S. large- and mid-capitalization equities with growth characteristics and positive environmental, social and governance characteristics.

SCHG SCHG seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Growth Total Stock Market Index. It generally invests in stocks included in that index, which represents large-cap U.S. growth equities.

Why people hold it

• EGUS Not a bolt-on. The index is built by optimizing the MSCI USA Growth parent for ESG exposure while aiming to keep risk and return characteristics similar to it.msci.com
• Hard exclusions, not vibes: tobacco, controversial weapons, civilian firearms, thermal coal and oil sands are ineligible for the index.msci.com
• 0.18% a year buys the screen plus standard iShares index plumbing. Roughly 90 large- and mid-cap growth names, with distributions paid quarterly.ishares.com
• A 2023 launch that does exactly what the label says: US growth, ESG-screened, index-tracked, with the objective spelled out in the registration statement.

• SCHG 0.04% a year against a growth-category median of 0.18%. Costs sit near the floor of the group.
• Hews closely to the Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Growth Total Stock Market Index, one of the tighter index implementations in its peer group.
• Live since 2009, a multi-billion-dollar fund, and one of the busier tickers in the growth aisle, so entering and exiting is usually cheap and easy.
• The benchmark is carved out of a total-market growth index, not S&P 500 membership, so a stock does not need an index committee's nod to qualify.

Worth knowing

• EGUS Small and thinly traded next to the big growth trackers, so bid-ask spreads can run wider and large orders need more care.
• Unscreened growth trackers charge far less (VUG at 0.03%, SCHG at 0.04%) than this fund's 0.18%. The ESG optimizer is what the extra buys.
• Roughly 90 names, and the optimizer can leave out growth companies you'd expect to see, so returns can drift from a plain growth index in either direction.msci.com

• SCHG Growth-only by design. Value and dividend-heavy corners of the market sit outside the mandate, so the ride differs from a total-market fund.
• Large-cap U.S. only, roughly 200 stocks. No mid-caps, no small-caps, nothing overseas.
• VUG charges a hair less for a similar broad-growth mandate. A tiny gap, but it is there. Distributions here arrive quarterly.

Full EGUS profile⁠

Full SCHG profile⁠