SCHD vs SYLD

SCHDASchwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF

SYLDDCambria Shareholder Yield ETF

In short

SCHD The dividend fund that checks the balance sheet before it checks the yield. SCHD only considers companies with 10 straight years of payouts, then ranks the survivors on cash flow, return on equity and dividend growth. Quality gate first, income second, at six basis points.

SYLD Most dividend funds count one thing: the payout. SYLD counts every way a company hands cash back, dividends, buybacks and debt paydown, in an active, roughly 100-stock US portfolio running since 2013.

Stated mandate

SCHD The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100TM Index.

SYLD The fund seeks income and capital appreciation through an actively managed portfolio of U.S.-based publicly listed companies with high shareholder yield, measured through dividends, buybacks and debt paydowns.

Why people hold it

• SCHD Charges 0.06% a year, near the floor for US equity ETFs and a fraction of what the typical dividend-screen fund costs.schwabassetmanagement.com
• The rulebook is strict: 10 consecutive years of dividends to qualify, then a composite rank on cash-flow-to-total-debt, return on equity, yield and five-year dividend growth.spglobal.com
• Index rules cap any single stock at 4.5% and any sector at 25%, so one hot name cannot quietly become the whole income stream.spglobal.com
• Running since 2011 and now among the largest, most heavily traded dividend ETFs, with tracking that stays very close to its index.

• SYLD Dividends are one route back to shareholders. This screen also credits buybacks and debt paydown, so it can own cash generators a pure yield list skips.cambriafunds.com
• Actively managed, not index-tracking: about 100 US names chosen on cash returned, rather than whatever a fixed rulebook happens to catch at rebalance.
• Live since 2013 with billions in assets and quarterly distributions. A funded, road-tested strategy, not a launch-year experiment.

Worth knowing

• SCHD Roughly 100 names, every one a long-time dividend payer. The fast-growing non-payers that drive much of the US market are not eligible, by design.spglobal.com
• The yield and quality screens tilt it toward mature, cash-generating sectors, so it looks nothing like a total-market fund. Distributions land quarterly, not monthly.spglobal.com
• Not the absolute cheapest shelf item: VIG runs 0.04% and DIVB 0.05%, though both screen for dividends differently.

• SYLD At 0.59% it costs more than the typical dividend-screen fund, and index heavyweights like SCHD and VIG charge a fraction of that. Active picking is the bill.
• Thinly traded next to the big dividend ETFs, so spreads and limit orders deserve a look before you hit the button.
• It measures itself against the S&P 500 while holding about 100 value-tilted names, so its path can diverge widely from the broad market in either direction.

Full SCHD profile⁠

Full SYLD profile⁠