IQDF vs SCHY

IQDFBNorthern Trust International Quality Dividend ETF

SCHYASchwab International Dividend Equity ETF

In short

IQDF A dividend fund that ignores dividend history. Northern Trust scores roughly 300 non-US large and mid caps on its own Dividend Quality Score, chasing payouts the balance sheet can support, and pays quarterly.

SCHY Schwab's dividend playbook with a passport: an index of non-US high payers filtered for sustained dividends, financial strength and low volatility, run for 0.08% a year while the typical fund in its group charges 0.50%.

Stated mandate

IQDF The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Northern Trust International Quality Dividend Index.

SCHY The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, an index of high-dividend-yielding stocks issued by companies outside the United States. Its index methodology emphasizes sustained dividend payments, relative financial strength, and lower volatility.

Why people hold it

• IQDF The screen looks forward, not backward: a Dividend Quality Score built on profitability and quality metrics, instead of a streak of past raises that can stop any year.flexshares.com
• Transparent plumbing: names are drawn from Northern Trust's own index of non-US large and mid caps, then weighted toward the strongest dividend-quality scorers.sec.gov
• Running since 2013, and the designated survivor of the lineup: it was the acquiring fund when FlexShares folded its defensive international dividend sibling in.sec.gov
• A billion-dollar-plus fund that sits in the upper half of its international dividend peer group on our review.

• SCHY Costs 0.08% a year against a 0.50% median for international dividend screens, one of the cheapest ways to rent this strategy.
• The index does more than chase yield: it screens for sustained payers, relative financial strength and lower volatility. Cash goes out quarterly.
• A plain passive tracker of the Dow Jones International Dividend 100 Index that has hugged its benchmark closely, with a multibillion-dollar base and shares that trade actively.
• Stands among the stronger implementations in its international dividend peer group on cost, tracking and tradability.

Worth knowing

• IQDF Costs 0.47% net of a waiver through March 1, 2027 (0.49% gross), near the category median, while index rivals VYMI (0.07%) and SCHY (0.08%) charge less.
• Moderately traded rather than a category heavyweight, so the spread you pay at the moment of trade matters more.
• A quality-and-yield screen shifts the sector and country mix away from a plain international index, so results can diverge from the broad market.flexshares.com

• SCHY Roughly 130 stocks, a narrower net than a broad international fund. Dividend screens naturally bunch up in a handful of sectors and countries.
• Launched in 2021, so it carries a shorter live record than the veterans of international dividend investing.
• Two neighbors shave the fee a touch further: VYMI and VIGI charge 0.07%, though each screens for different things.

Full IQDF profile⁠

Full SCHY profile⁠