FID vs NOBL

FIDDFirst Trust S&P International Dividend Aristocrats ETF

NOBLAProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF

In short

FID The Aristocrats formula with a passport. FID applies S&P's long dividend-record discipline to companies outside the US, holding roughly 80 international payers in one index fund and paying cash out quarterly.

NOBL Dividend investing without the yield chase. NOBL holds roughly 70 S&P 500 companies picked for their records as dividend growers, not for the fattest payout on the screen. A purist's take on the theme, running since 2013.

Stated mandate

FID The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the S&P International Dividend Aristocrats Index by investing principally in the securities comprising that Index.

NOBL The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index.

Why people hold it

• FID The ex-US branch of a famous family: it tracks the S&P International Dividend Aristocrats Index, taking the long dividend-record screen overseas instead of down the S&P 500 roster.ftportfolios.com
• Rules do the picking. It has run as a passive index fund since 2013, with the quality and value screen written into the benchmark rather than left to a manager's mood.
• Roughly 80 holdings spread the income across many companies, and the fund distributes on a quarterly cadence.

• NOBL The screen is the product: a slice of about 70 names pulled from the S&P 500 on dividend-growth credentials, not headline yield.
• At 0.35% a year, it sits below the typical fee in its dividend-growth peer group and matches SDY, the other big S&P dividend index fund.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and it has tracked its index tightly. One of the stronger builds in its niche.

Worth knowing

• FID At 0.60% a year, it runs above the US-focused aristocrat funds in its group such as NOBL and SDY. That gap is what the overseas mandate costs.
• One of the lighter-traded, smaller funds in the category, so bid-ask spreads can add to the cost beyond the expense ratio.
• The dividends are earned in foreign currencies, so exchange-rate swings show up in both the payouts and the returns a US investor sees.ftportfolios.com

• NOBL Mid-priced, not cheap. Broad sector-neutral dividend index funds such as SPDG charge a fraction of NOBL's 0.35%.
• Roughly 70 stocks means real single-name and sector concentration next to the full S&P 500, and it is all-equity, so market drawdowns come through.
• Cash lands quarterly, not monthly, and the mandate rewards payout consistency rather than the biggest current yield.

Full FID profile⁠

Full NOBL profile⁠