RSP vs USPX

RSPBInvesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF

USPXAFranklin U.S. Equity Index ETF

In short

RSP Same 500 companies as the S&P 500, sliced evenly instead of by size. Running since 2003, it is the large, heavily traded way to own the index without letting a handful of megacaps call the shots.

USPX The odd one out in the S&P 500 aisle. Franklin's fund tracks a Morningstar large-cap benchmark instead, for three basis points. Same big-US-stocks job, different scorecard, and a fee that undercuts most of the peer group.

Stated mandate

RSP The fund is designed to provide exposure to the S&P 500 while equally weighting the stocks in that index.

USPX The fund seeks to provide U.S. equity exposure through an index-based strategy.

Why people hold it

• RSP Every name gets the same slice: about 500 S&P 500 members, equally weighted, so no small group of giants steers the whole fund.
• One job, done plainly. Hold the S&P 500's companies and weight them equally. No stock picking, no forecasts, no tilt beyond the equal-weight rule.
• Trading since 2003 and now a multi-billion-dollar, very actively traded fund, which tends to make getting in and out cheap. Distributions land quarterly.

• USPX 0.03% a year, a fraction of the roughly 0.15% typical in its peer group and level with the fee on VOO and IVV.
• Sticks close to its Morningstar US Target Market Exposure Index, one of the tighter index-following records among the S&P 500 wrappers it sits beside.
• Rules-based cap-weighted US equity, roughly 190 names, no factor tilts or manager picks. Pays quarterly.
• Running since 2016 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, with Franklin Templeton behind it.

Worth knowing

• RSP The 0.20% annual fee sits above the median for S&P 500 trackers and well above cap-weighted siblings like VOO and IVV at 0.03%.
• Equal weighting leans toward the index's smaller members, so results can diverge from the headline S&P 500 in either direction.
• Keeping weights level takes ongoing rebalancing, so turnover runs higher than a cap-weighted fund that simply lets winners ride.

• USPX Different index, different constituent rules. Holdings and returns can drift from the S&P 500 trackers most people compare it to.
• Moderately traded rather than a volume monster like SPY, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads than the biggest names in the category.
• Fewer names than the 500-stock benchmarks next door, and cap weighting keeps the largest US companies in the driver's seat.

Full RSP profile⁠

Full USPX profile⁠