HQGO vs VYM

HQGOCHartford US Quality Growth ETF

VYMAVanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

In short

HQGO Hartford's growth sleeve with a seatbelt: an in-house index that leans on growth and quality while keeping a foot in value and momentum, packed into roughly 100 US stocks. Young, small, and priced above plain index growth.

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

HQGO The Fund seeks to provide total returns corresponding to the Hartford US Quality Growth Index, which invests in U.S. equities emphasizing growth and quality while retaining exposure to value and momentum.

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

• HQGO Four factors, one ticker. The index emphasizes growth and quality but retains value and momentum exposure, so it is not a pure chase-the-winners growth build.
• The portfolio has stayed tightly aligned with the Hartford US Quality Growth Index it advertises, one of the closer index-to-holdings matches in its multifactor group.
• Concentrated on purpose: roughly 100 names rather than a sprawling growth basket, so individual positions carry real weight.
• A conventional 1940 Act fund tracking a named, published index, with quarterly distributions. No derivatives wrapper, no outcome period to track.

• 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

• HQGO 0.34% a year is the price of the factor blend. Plain US growth beta in the same cohort runs far cheaper, with IUSG at 0.04%.
• Small asset base and light trading volume, so spreads tend to be wider than at the cohort's giants.
• Launched December 2023, so the record is short and does not cover a full market cycle.

• 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 HQGO profile⁠

Full VYM profile⁠