IUS vs VYM

IUSBInvesco RAFI Strategic US ETF

VYMAVanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

In short

IUS Most index funds let the stock market decide who counts as big. IUS ranks US large caps by business size (sales, cash flow, book value, capital returned), screens them for quality, and charges 0.19%.

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

IUS The fund tracks the Invesco Strategic US Index, which selects large US companies using business-size and quality measures and weights securities by float-adjusted business size.

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

• IUS At 0.19% a year it undercuts the typical fund in its US multifactor cohort, and sits below FNDX, the best-known fundamentally weighted large-cap rival.
• Weighting by economic footprint instead of market cap dilutes the mega-cap crowd: roughly 500 names, none sized by how popular its shares happen to be.invesco.com
• The quality screen is concrete, not vague: companies are ranked on how much revenue they wring from their assets and whether that ratio is improving.invesco.com
• Live since 2018 and one of the stronger implementations in a crowded US multifactor field. Pays 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

• IUS Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so bid-ask spreads can run wider.
• The index is built by Invesco Indexing LLC, an affiliate of the fund's adviser, rather than an independent third-party provider.sec.gov
• Reconstitutes once a year, so its business-size and quality readings refresh annually while prices move every day.invesco.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 IUS profile⁠

Full VYM profile⁠