QDIV vs VIG

QDIVBGlobal X S&P 500 Quality Dividend ETF

VIGAVanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

In short

QDIV Most dividend funds chase yield and hope quality follows. QDIV demands both: a stock must rank in the S&P 500's top 200 on dividend yield and top 200 on quality to get in. Roughly 50 names, equal weighted, paid monthly.

VIG VIG buys dividend growth, not fat yields: about 300 US companies with a record of raising their payouts, tracked for 0.04% a year. Running since 2006 and now north of $100 billion, it is the plain-vanilla anchor of the dividend-screen aisle.

Stated mandate

QDIV The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the S&P 500 Quality High Dividend Index.

VIG The fund seeks to track the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index, which represents common stocks of companies with a record of increasing dividends over time.

Why people hold it

• QDIV The double screen is the whole point: only S&P 500 names in the top 200 by dividend yield AND the top 200 by quality score (return on equity, accruals, leverage) make the cut.globalxetfs.comspglobal.com
• 0.20% a year, roughly half the typical fee among dividend-screen ETFs.
• Equal weighting plus a 25% cap on any one sector at each semiannual rebalance stops a single megacap or a single corner of the market from running the show.spglobal.com
• Pays monthly, and the portfolio has tracked its index closely.

• VIG At 0.04% a year, the fee is roughly a tenth of the typical dividend-screen fund's 0.39%, and undercuts every other top-graded fund in the group, DGRO and SCHD included.
• The screen rewards a record of increasing dividends rather than the biggest current payout, so the basket leans on payout discipline instead of stretched yields.
• Live since 2006, over $100 billion in assets and actively traded, which shows up as easy fills rather than wide spreads.
• About 300 holdings, cash paid quarterly, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its dividend-screen peer group.

Worth knowing

• QDIV Cheap next to the average dividend screener, less so next to the giants: VIG (0.04%), SCHD (0.06%) and DGRO (0.08%) all charge less.
• It trades thinly, so spreads can be wider than the household names. Limit orders earn their keep here.
• About 50 equal-weighted stocks means each name carries real weight, and the twin screens can leave the fund leaning on whichever sectors pass both tests.spglobal.com

• VIG Growth of payouts, not maximum income, is the mandate. That puts it on a different axis than high-dividend funds such as SPYD.
• US stocks only, no bonds and no overseas payers, and sector weights are whatever the index screen spits out.
• Portfolio risk and concentration measures land mid-pack for the category: it is fully invested in equities and drops when the market drops.

Full QDIV profile⁠

Full VIG profile⁠