JPUS vs VYM

JPUSBJPMorgan Diversified Return U.S. Equity ETF

VYMAVanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

In short

JPUS Most US equity funds start from market cap. JPUS starts from a J.P. Morgan index that spreads its bets across value, quality and momentum, and charges roughly half the typical multifactor fee to do it.

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

JPUS The fund seeks domestic equity exposure while aiming for better risk-adjusted returns than a market-cap-weighted 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

• JPUS 0.18% a year against a 0.32% median for its multifactor peer group. The factor tilt costs less here than on most of the shelf.
• Three factors (value, quality, momentum) spread across roughly 400 stocks, so no single style has to be in favor for the portfolio to do its job.jpmorgan.com
• Running its own index since 2015, with a stated aim of better risk-adjusted returns than a market-cap-weighted benchmark rather than raw beat-the-market bragging.jpmorgan.com
• The underlying basket is one of the better-built ones in its multifactor cohort, and the fund sits in the upper half of that group overall.

• 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

• JPUS Thinly traded next to the household names in the category, so spreads and order size matter more at the moment you hit the button.
• Plainer peers undercut it on fee: VONV at 0.06%, VYM at 0.04%. The multifactor machinery is what the extra basis points buy.
• Built to look different from the cap-weighted market, which cuts both ways depending on which stocks are leading.

• 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 JPUS profile⁠

Full VYM profile⁠