PSFD vs SEPW

PSFDBPacer Swan SOS Flex (January) ETF

SEPWCAllianzIM U.S. Equity Buffer20 Sep ETF

In short

PSFD Absorbs the first 20% of a drop in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust over each 12-month period, with your upside capped in exchange. One of the original 2020 Pacer/Swan buffer funds, and priced under most deep-buffer rivals.

SEPW September's door into AllianzIM's deep-buffer series: SEPW absorbs the first 20% of a year's decline in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust's share price, and trades away upside above a cap that resets every September 1.

Stated mandate

PSFD The fund seeks to match the returns of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust up to a stated cap while mitigating specified downside losses through a structured buffer strategy over an approximately one-year period.

SEPW The fund seeks to track the share-price return of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust through the current outcome period, subject to an upside cap, while protecting the first 20% of underlying losses. Fees reduce the stated cap and buffer.

Why people hold it

• PSFD 0.49% a year versus a 0.74% median for 20%-buffer S&P 500 funds, undercutting the AllianzIM month-series lineup (JANW, APRW, JUNW). When upside is capped, fees come straight out of the ceiling.
• Deep cushion, clean reset: FLEX options are structured to absorb the first 20% of underlying losses over the roughly one-year period, with a new cap struck at the start of each period.paceretfs.com
• Siblings run the same recipe on other calendars (PSFM in April, PSFJ in July), so start dates can be staggered instead of pinned to one January strike. Standing sits in the upper half of the deep-buffer group.

• SEPW Deep end of the buffer world: the first 20% of the reference ETF's price decline over a full outcome period is absorbed. Fees reduce the stated buffer and cap.
• A 1940 Act ETF, not a bank-issued note, so no single issuer's balance sheet sits between the strategy and the payoff.
• One month in a series: March and May siblings run the same 20% buffer on the same reference, so the start date isn't dictated by a single point on the calendar.

Worth knowing

• PSFD Thinly traded. Spreads can be wider and larger orders harder to fill than in the giants of the buffer aisle.
• No income stream: the fund holds options on an S&P 500 tracker rather than the stocks, and it has not paid a distribution.paceretfs.com
• Buffer and cap run start to finish of the period and are set before fees and expenses. Shares bought mid-period carry different remaining cushion and headroom.paceretfs.com

• SEPW Cost sits at the top of the deep-buffer group: 0.74%, against 0.50% at PGIM's laddered PBFR and 0.49% at the Pacer Swan flex funds (PSFJ, PSFM).
• The reference is a share price, so S&P 500 dividends don't count toward the capped return, and income isn't part of the design.
• Bought mid-period, the effective buffer and cap differ from the headline terms, which apply across a complete outcome period.

Full PSFD profile⁠

Full SEPW profile⁠