RECS vs VYM

RECSAColumbia Research Enhanced Core ETF

VYMAVanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

In short

RECS Columbia takes the boring core of a US stock portfolio and runs it through its own value, quality and momentum research screen. Roughly 400 names at 0.15% a year: index-fund pricing on a research-driven build.

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

RECS The Fund seeks results corresponding to the Beta Advantage Research Enhanced U.S. Equity Index, before fees and expenses.

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

• RECS 0.15% a year for a researched screen, well under half the going rate in its multifactor cohort.
• The value, quality and momentum tilt lives inside a broad book of about 400 US stocks, so it reads as a core position rather than a single-factor bet.
• Sticks close to its stated Beta Advantage index, and it is a multi-billion-dollar fund with steady daily volume behind the quotes.
• Running since 2019 and one of the stronger implementations in a crowded US multifactor field.

• 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

• RECS Plain-vanilla rivals such as VYM and IUSG charge a fraction as much. The extra basis points here buy the research screen, not broader coverage.
• The screen trims rather than reinvents: the portfolio still leans on the same large US names that dominate the broad market, so the tilt shows up slowly.
• Distributions come once or twice a year, not quarterly, so the cash arrives on a lumpy schedule.

• 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 RECS profile⁠

Full VYM profile⁠