RDVY vs SPYD

RDVYCFirst Trust Rising Dividend Achievers ETF

SPYDAState Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF

In short

RDVY A dividend fund built around raises, not yield: roughly 50 equal-weighted US names, a quarter of the roster refreshed each quarter, and an index rule that ejects companies which slash or suspend the payout.

SPYD Most dividend ETFs hunt for companies that keep raising payouts. SPYD skips the courtship and goes straight for the yield: roughly 80 high-dividend names out of the S&P 500, for 0.07% a year.

Stated mandate

RDVY The Fund seeks investment results that generally correspond to the price and yield of the Nasdaq US Rising Dividend AchieversTM Index before fees and expenses.

SPYD The fund seeks to provide returns that generally correspond to the total return of the S&P 500 High Dividend Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• RDVY The index doesn't wait for the annual reshuffle. Under Nasdaq's rules, a holding that suspends its dividend or cuts it by 50% or more is removed the following month.nasdaqomx.com
• Four sub-portfolios, each reconstituted in its own quarter and reset to 25% of the index every March. Turnover happens in rolling slices instead of one annual lump.nasdaqomx.com
• Equal weighting across about 50 stocks. No single mega-cap steers the portfolio the way it can in cap-weighted dividend index funds.nasdaqomx.com
• Live since 2014 and now a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part.

• SPYD 0.07% a year against a 0.39% median across dividend-screen peers. It undercuts DGRO's 0.08% and sits a hair above SCHD.
• A pure yield screen, not a growth screen. Where VIG and DGRO buy payout raisers, SPYD takes the high-dividend end of the S&P 500. Different flavor of the same food group.
• Running since 2015, now a multi-billion-dollar fund and one of the more actively traded names in its cohort, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part.
• Pays quarterly and has tracked the S&P 500 High Dividend Index closely, which is the whole job for a fund like this.

Worth knowing

• RDVY 0.47% a year sits above the median US dividend-screen fund and runs many multiples of the category's index staples: SCHD at 0.06%, VIG at 0.04%, DGRO at 0.08%.
• About 50 equal-weighted names is a concentrated way to own dividend growth. Each position carries real weight, and sector tilts can run hotter than a broad-market fund's.nasdaqomx.com
• The mandate tracks an index of rising dividend payers, not the highest yields on offer. Different job than a high-yield fund. Distributions come quarterly.

• SPYD About 80 stocks is a narrow slice. Screening on yield pulls the sector mix away from the broad S&P 500, and the ride can be bumpier than the index it comes from.
• A high yield is a ranking, not a promise. The index sorts on payout size, not on how reliably a company has grown or defended that payout.

Full RDVY profile⁠

Full SPYD profile⁠