JHMM vs VYM

JHMMBJohn Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF

VYMAVanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

In short

JHMM The mid-cap slice of John Hancock's Dimensional-built index suite: roughly 700 stocks sorted by size, price and profitability instead of market cap alone, at 0.41% net of a waiver through July 31, 2027.

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

JHMM The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Mid Cap Index.

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

• JHMM The index is developed and maintained by Dimensional Fund Advisors, which classifies stocks by market capitalization, relative price and profitability rather than size alone.jhinvestments.com
• Wide net, not a concentrated bet: roughly 700 holdings drawn from companies ranked between the 200th and 951st largest in the US at reconstitution.jhinvestments.com
• Tracking of its index has been among the tightest in a multifactor peer group of roughly 100 funds.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund trading since its 2015 launch, so there is a decade of live history behind the methodology.

• 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

• JHMM Costs 0.41% net of a waiver through July 31, 2027 (0.42% gross), above the median for multifactor funds; plain large-cap screens like VYM at 0.04% sit far below.
• Leaning toward cheaper, more profitable, smaller names means results can drift from a plain mid-cap index for long stretches, in either direction.jhinvestments.com
• Distributions arrive once or twice a year, not quarterly or monthly.

• 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 JHMM profile⁠

Full VYM profile⁠