FGD vs SCHY

FGDBFirst Trust Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index Fund

SCHYASchwab International Dividend Equity 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.

SCHY Schwab's dividend playbook with a passport: an index of non-US high payers filtered for sustained dividends, financial strength and low volatility, run for 0.08% a year while the typical fund in its group charges 0.50%.

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.

SCHY The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, an index of high-dividend-yielding stocks issued by companies outside the United States. Its index methodology emphasizes sustained dividend payments, relative financial strength, and lower volatility.

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.

• SCHY Costs 0.08% a year against a 0.50% median for international dividend screens, one of the cheapest ways to rent this strategy.
• The index does more than chase yield: it screens for sustained payers, relative financial strength and lower volatility. Cash goes out quarterly.
• A plain passive tracker of the Dow Jones International Dividend 100 Index that has hugged its benchmark closely, with a multibillion-dollar base and shares that trade actively.
• Stands among the stronger implementations in its international dividend peer group on cost, tracking and tradability.

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.

• SCHY Roughly 130 stocks, a narrower net than a broad international fund. Dividend screens naturally bunch up in a handful of sectors and countries.
• Launched in 2021, so it carries a shorter live record than the veterans of international dividend investing.
• Two neighbors shave the fee a touch further: VYMI and VIGI charge 0.07%, though each screens for different things.

Full FGD profile⁠

Full SCHY profile⁠