FGD vs IGRO

FGDBFirst Trust Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index Fund

IGROAiShares International Dividend Growth ETF

In short

FGD A 2007-vintage dividend fund with a genuinely global map: US and overseas payers in one basket, chosen by a dividend quality and liquidity screen rather than raw yield alone.

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

FGD The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index.

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

• FGD Global means global. The mandate is worldwide equity, not ex-US, so domestic and foreign payers sit in the same basket instead of two tickers.ftportfolios.com
• Live since 2007, so it has traded through the financial crisis, a pandemic and a rate spike, and has grown into a multi-billion-dollar fund.
• Names must clear a dividend quality and liquidity screen, so a fat yield alone does not buy a seat in the index.ftportfolios.com
• Roughly 110 holdings, quarterly distributions, and a portfolio that lines up tightly with the Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index it advertises.

• 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

• FGD At 0.55%, the fee sits above the cohort median (0.50%) and many times index peers like VYMI (0.07%) and SCHY (0.08%).
• A global book means much of it trades in foreign currencies, so exchange-rate moves show up in dollar returns alongside the stocks themselves.
• Moderately traded rather than a volume giant, and about 110 names is a tighter roster than broad-market dividend funds carry.

• 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 FGD profile⁠

Full IGRO profile⁠