FTCS vs VYM

FTCSCFirst Trust Capital Strength ETF

VYMAVanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

In short

FTCS A 2006-vintage take on quality investing: the Capital Strength Index screens US companies for profitability and calm price action, then keeps about 50. Concentrated by design, and priced accordingly.

VYM The no-frills dividend workhorse. VYM buys the higher-yielding end of the US market, roughly 600 names, for four basis points: no quality screen, no dividend-growth-streak test, just yield, at scale since 2006.

Stated mandate

FTCS FTCS seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield of The Capital StrengthTM Index. The fund states that achieving its investment objective is not guaranteed.

VYM The Fund seeks to track a benchmark index measuring the investment return of common stocks from companies characterized by high dividend yields.

Why people hold it

• FTCS Runs a real screen, not a market-cap list. Quality, profitability and low-volatility filters cut the field to about 50 US names, so each holding actually carries weight.ftportfolios.com
• Trading since 2006, so the strategy has been live through the financial crisis, 2020 and 2022. A long operating history, not a backtest with a ticker attached.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, which generally means tight spreads on retail-sized orders. Distributions come quarterly.

• VYM Four basis points a year, against a peer-group median near 0.32%. Cheaper than cohort neighbors VONV (0.06%) and FNDX (0.25%).
• Running since 2006 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so ordinary orders tend to fill at tight spreads.
• Simple mandate: track the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index of US common stocks screened on yield. No manager discretion, no options overlay, plain 1940-Act fund.vanguard.com
• Pays quarterly, and among 100-plus value and multifactor rivals it stands as one of the strongest overall packages in the group.

Worth knowing

• FTCS 0.53% a year is roughly double the median for US factor ETFs. Cohort neighbors like MGV (0.05%) and SIZE (0.15%) run the factor playbook for a fraction of that.
• About 50 holdings means one company's bad quarter lands harder here than in a broad index fund.
• The index is rules-based, so the portfolio tilts toward whichever sectors currently clear the quality and volatility screens rather than to a fixed sector mix.ftportfolios.com

• VYM The screen is yield, not payout growth or dividend quality, so a company can qualify simply because its share price fell.
• This is a value slice by design, tilted to established payers, so it behaves differently from a total US market fund.
• Roughly 600 holdings, but weight leans toward the largest payers, so the top of the roster does more of the work than the count suggests.

Full FTCS profile⁠

Full VYM profile⁠