SCHA vs VB

SCHAASchwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF

VBAVanguard Morningstar Small-Cap ETF

In short

SCHA Schwab's small-cap workhorse: three basis points, roughly 1,700 companies, and a mandate to hold the slice of the US market that sits below the large and mid caps. Running since 2009.

VB Vanguard's small-cap workhorse: roughly 1,400 smaller US companies for three basis points. The CRSP index behind it shifts stocks between size bands in two half steps instead of one jump, which holds turnover down. Trading since 2004.

Stated mandate

SCHA The fund seeks to closely track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Total Stock Market Index. It generally invests in that index’s small-cap stocks and normally places at least 90% of net assets in them.

VB The fund seeks to track the CRSP US Small Cap Index, which measures the investment performance of small U.S. companies. It uses an indexing approach and generally replicates the index by holding its securities in approximately their index weights.

Why people hold it

• SCHA At 0.03% a year, it is tied for the cheapest fund in its small-cap peer group and a fraction of the 0.25% category median. The fee is the one variable you know in advance.
• Roughly 1,700 stocks, weighted by size. That is the whole small-cap tail rather than a curated shortlist, and no single name gets to steer the portfolio.
• The contract is plain: at least 90% of net assets in the Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Total Stock Market Index, and it has tracked that benchmark closely.
• Sixteen years old, multi-billion-dollar, actively traded, and pays quarterly. One of the sturdier implementations among the broad small-cap index funds we cover.

• VB Three basis points a year, against a small-cap category median near 0.25%. Cost is the one edge in indexing you actually keep.
• About 1,400 stocks held at roughly their index weights, so no single small-cap story carries the fund.vanguard.com
• Its CRSP benchmark migrates a stock between size segments in two 50% packets instead of one move, a design built to cut turnover.crsp.com
• Running since 2004, actively traded, and one of the strongest implementations in its 20-fund small-cap peer group.

Worth knowing

• SCHA Small caps move harder than large caps in both directions. This fund takes the full ride with no hedge, buffer, or volatility damper in the design.
• The index sorts by size, not quality. Unprofitable and lightly covered companies come along with everything else, since no earnings screen sits in front of the portfolio.
• It follows a Dow Jones small-cap index, not the Russell 2000 that IWM and VTWO track, so its returns and headlines about that benchmark will not line up exactly.

• VB Small companies move harder in both directions than large-cap benchmarks, and this is full, unhedged exposure to that.
• Benchmarks disagree on where small cap starts. VB follows CRSP, while IWM and VTWO track the Russell 2000, so holdings and results can drift apart.
• US companies only, and distributions land quarterly rather than monthly.

Full SCHA profile⁠

Full VB profile⁠