FDVV vs VIG

FDVVAFidelity High Dividend ETF

VIGAVanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

In short

FDVV Fidelity built its own high-dividend index instead of licensing someone else's, then priced it at 0.15%. About 120 yield-screened stocks, cash out quarterly, in a multi-billion-dollar package.

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

FDVV The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Fidelity High Dividend Index. It normally invests at least 80% of assets in securities included in that index or depositary receipts representing those securities.

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

• FDVV 0.15% a year against a 0.39% median for dividend-screen funds. Less of the dividend leaks out on the way to you.
• Rules, not hunches: it tracks the Fidelity High Dividend Index and normally keeps at least 80% of assets in that index's names.fidelity.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so the spread is rarely the story when you buy or sell.
• Pays quarterly and sits among the stronger builds in a crowded field of US dividend screens.

• 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

• FDVV Cheaper doors into dividends exist: VIG at 0.04% and SCHD at 0.06%. The extra basis points here buy Fidelity's own screen, not a broader menu.
• A yield screen trims the market to roughly 120 stocks, so sector and single-name weights run heavier than in a total-market fund.
• The quarterly check follows what the holdings actually pay. This fund tracks an index; it does not target an income level.

• 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 FDVV profile⁠

Full VIG profile⁠