RSPG vs VDE

RSPGBInvesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Energy ETF

VDEAVanguard Energy ETF

In short

RSPG Cap weighting hands an energy fund mostly to the biggest oil majors. RSPG splits the S&P 500's energy names evenly instead, so refiners and drillers stand alongside the giants. Same rulebook since 2006, when it launched as RYE.

VDE Energy without the mega-cap tunnel vision. VDE tracks an index of roughly 110 US energy stocks, large down to small cap, for 0.09% a year, and it has been running since 2004.

Stated mandate

RSPG The fund seeks to track an index that equally weights stocks in the energy sector of the S&P 500® Index.

VDE The fund seeks to track the MSCI US Investable Market Energy 25/50 Index, which represents large-, mid-, and small-cap U.S. energy-sector stocks.

Why people hold it

• RSPG Equal weighting is the whole point: each S&P 500 energy stock gets the same target slot, so refiners, drillers and service names carry as much weight as a supermajor.invesco.com
• The 0.40% fee sits a shade under the median for broad energy ETFs.
• Running since 2006, and traded as RYE until Invesco's 2023 ticker swap, so the same equal-weight rules have worked through multiple oil booms and busts.sec.gov
• A legible mandate: S&P 500 energy stocks, weighted alike, no commodity futures. Distributions land quarterly.

• VDE Costs 0.09% a year, a fraction of what the typical energy sector fund charges.
• Casts a wider net than mega-cap-only energy funds: about 110 large-, mid- and small-cap US names, from the integrated majors to shale drillers and refiners.vanguard.com
• Hugs its benchmark closely and trades actively, which tends to keep spreads slim for everyday buys and sells.
• Live since 2004 and one of the strongest builds in the broad energy group, with a Vanguard fee structure that has only ratcheted downward.

Worth knowing

• RSPG Plain cap-weighted rivals cost far less: XLE and FENY at 0.08%, VDE at 0.09%. The equal-weight tilt is something you pay for.
• Mid-sized and moderately traded, so spreads can run wider than the household-name energy funds. Limit orders earn their keep.
• Pushing weight toward the sector's smaller names raises the volatility, and it is still one sector riding oil and gas prices.

• VDE One sector, one storyline: this rides crude and natural gas prices, and it swings harder in both directions than a total-market fund.
• Cap-weighted, so a handful of US oil majors carry outsized weight despite the long holdings list; the index's 25/50 rules limit that concentration rather than erase it.vanguard.com
• Income arrives quarterly, not monthly, and moves with what energy companies choose to pay out.

Full RSPG profile⁠

Full VDE profile⁠