ILCG vs SCHG

ILCGAiShares Morningstar Growth ETF

SCHGASchwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF

In short

ILCG Growth by Morningstar's rulebook. A 2004-vintage iShares fund that screens large and mid caps for above-average earnings, sales, cash-flow and book-value growth, and charges four basis points to do it.

SCHG Schwab's growth workhorse: roughly 200 large-cap U.S. growth names for four basis points, one of the cheapest tickets in a crowded category. Running since 2009 and among the most heavily traded growth funds around.

Stated mandate

ILCG The fund aims to follow an index of U.S. large- and mid-cap stocks chosen for above-average earnings, sales, cash-flow, and book-value growth.

SCHG SCHG seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Growth Total Stock Market Index. It generally invests in stocks included in that index, which represents large-cap U.S. growth equities.

Why people hold it

• ILCG 0.04% a year. The typical fund in its factor peer group charges roughly eight times that, so almost none of the return leaks out the fee door.
• Uses Morningstar's growth definition (earnings, sales, cash flow, book value) rather than S&P's or Russell's, and reaches into mid caps, not just the S&P 500.ishares.com
• Trading since 2004, a multi-billion-dollar fund holding roughly 300 stocks. Long-running plumbing, not a launch-week experiment.
• Tracking has been tight, and the fund sits in the upper half of its factor cohort overall, with cost doing much of the heavy lifting.

• SCHG 0.04% a year against a growth-category median of 0.18%. Costs sit near the floor of the group.
• Hews closely to the Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Growth Total Stock Market Index, one of the tighter index implementations in its peer group.
• Live since 2009, a multi-billion-dollar fund, and one of the busier tickers in the growth aisle, so entering and exiting is usually cheap and easy.
• The benchmark is carved out of a total-market growth index, not S&P 500 membership, so a stock does not need an index committee's nod to qualify.

Worth knowing

• ILCG Pure growth means no value ballast, and the ride has been bumpier than most funds in its factor group. The style can sit out of favor for long stretches.
• Concentration runs high for the cohort: cap-weighted growth screens funnel a big share of the fund into the same handful of mega-cap names.
• Moderately traded, not a tape leader. Sibling IUSG applies S&P's growth definition at the same 0.04%, so the pick is which index rulebook you prefer.

• SCHG Growth-only by design. Value and dividend-heavy corners of the market sit outside the mandate, so the ride differs from a total-market fund.
• Large-cap U.S. only, roughly 200 stocks. No mid-caps, no small-caps, nothing overseas.
• VUG charges a hair less for a similar broad-growth mandate. A tiny gap, but it is there. Distributions here arrive quarterly.

Full ILCG profile⁠

Full SCHG profile⁠