PFI vs VFH

PFIDInvesco Dorsey Wright Financial Momentum ETF

VFHBVanguard Financials ETF

In short

PFI Most financials ETFs own the whole sector and let market cap sort it out. PFI runs a momentum screen instead: Dorsey Wright relative-strength rules pick a few dozen financial stocks and reshuffle them every quarter.

VFH Financials without the size filter. VFH holds roughly 400 US financial stocks, from the megabanks down to small regional lenders and insurers, for 0.09% a year.

Stated mandate

PFI The fund is based on the Dorsey Wright Financials Technical Leaders Index, which is designed to identify companies demonstrating relative strength, or momentum.

VFH VFH seeks to track the MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Financials 25/50, providing passively managed, multicapitalization exposure to U.S. financial-sector equities.

Why people hold it

• PFI The rulebook is the whole product: at least 30 financial-sector names drawn from the Nasdaq US Benchmark universe on price strength, rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly.nasdaq.comnasdaq.com 2
• Running since 2006, so the strategy has a long public record across rate cycles, the financial crisis and the bank stress that followed. Distributions land quarterly.
• Concentrated by design, a few dozen holdings instead of the full sector, with quarterly resets that can tilt toward banks, insurers, exchanges or payments as leadership shifts.invesco.com

• VFH Owns the whole sector, not just the giants: roughly 400 US financial names through MSCI's US IMI Financials 25/50 index, megabanks through small regional lenders and insurers.vanguard.com
• Costs 0.09% a year, a fraction of what the typical broad financials fund charges.vanguard.com
• Running since 2004, now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and it has stayed close to its index. One of the strongest implementations in the financials group.
• Pays out quarterly, passively managed, no manager stock-picking inside the sector.

Worth knowing

• PFI Costs 0.60% net of a waiver through August 31, 2028 (0.78% gross), above the category median and well above plain sector beta such as XLF at 0.08% or VFH at 0.09%.
• A small fund that trades lightly, so spreads can run wider. Limit orders matter more here than with the sector giants.
• Momentum buys strength after it appears, so results can diverge sharply from the broad financials sector in either direction, most of all at turning points.nasdaq.com

• VFH One sector, one storyline: banks, insurers and brokers tend to move together with interest rates and the credit cycle.
• The multicap reach cuts both ways. Small regional banks and niche insurers ride along with the megacaps, and they can swing harder.
• Cost isn't the edge here: XLF and FNCL sit at essentially the same fee. Breadth of coverage is the real differentiator.

Full PFI profile⁠

Full VFH profile⁠