GUSE vs TMFM

GUSEAGoldman Sachs Enhanced U.S. Equity ETF

TMFMDMotley Fool Mid-Cap Growth ETF

In short

GUSE Goldman's fundamental stock pickers hunting long-term growth in US companies, for 0.30% a year. The strategy dates to 2008 and charges well under the typical active US growth fund.

TMFM The Motley Fool's own fund shop, stock-picking US mid caps for quality and growth. It ran as a mutual fund from 2014 and converted into an ETF in 2021, so the strategy is older than the ticker.

Stated mandate

GUSE The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital by investing in companies that the Investment Adviser believes are positioned for long-term growth.

TMFM The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through an actively managed portfolio of U.S. mid-cap companies, using a quality-growth approach.

Why people hold it

• GUSE Charges 0.30% a year, against a 0.54% median for its active US growth cohort. Cheap, for stock picking.
• Actively run with no index to shadow. Managers hold companies they judge positioned for long-term growth, so the portfolio can look different from a large-cap benchmark.
• Inception dates to 2008, so the strategy has run through multiple market cycles, not one long rally.
• One of the stronger implementations in a crowded field of active US growth funds.

• TMFM Genuinely active, not an index tracker: managers pick US mid-cap companies on quality and growth, with the Russell Midcap Growth index as the yardstick.
• The strategy has a paper trail: it launched in 2014 as the MFAM Mid-Cap Growth mutual fund and converted into this ETF in December 2021.etfgi.com
• Its peer group is crowded with enhanced large-cap funds (JUSA, FELG). This one stays in the middle of the market-cap range, where fewer active ETFs bother to fish.
• The portfolio is the sturdiest part of the package: a coherent book of US quality-growth names rather than a grab bag.

Worth knowing

• GUSE Trades thinly next to the category's heavyweights. Spreads can be wider, which bites most on large or hurried orders.
• Two peers in the same top tier undercut it on fee: JUSA at 0.12% and FELG at 0.18%. Price is not where this one stands out.
• Distributions land once or twice a year, not monthly. Growth of capital is the stated goal, not an income stream.

• TMFM Fees are the headline trade-off. At 0.85% a year it runs above the typical fund in its peer group, and many times the cheapest enhanced-index names (JUSA at 0.12%).
• It trades thinly for a US equity ETF, so spreads can be wider and sizable orders can nudge the price. Limit orders matter more here than with a mega-cap index fund.
• On our overall read it sits in the lower tier of its peer group, with cost and trading friction doing most of the damage rather than the holdings.

Full GUSE profile⁠

Full TMFM profile⁠