SCHD vs TMDV

SCHDASchwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF

TMDVCProShares Russell U.S. Dividend Growers 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.

TMDV A dividend fund built around a longevity test: TMDV holds roughly 60 U.S. companies with long unbroken records of raising their payouts, drawn from the full Russell 3000 rather than only the mega-cap crowd.

Stated mandate

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

TMDV TMDV seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Russell 3000 Dividend Elite Index, which selects U.S. companies with long records of annual dividend increases.

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.

• TMDV The screen is the whole story: only U.S. companies with long records of annual dividend increases make the Russell 3000 Dividend Elite Index.proshares.com
• At 0.35%, it undercuts the typical fund in its dividend-screen peer group.
• About 60 names pulled from the whole Russell 3000, so mid-sized dividend raisers can qualify, not just the usual large-cap payers.proshares.com
• Rules-based and legible: one published index, quarterly distributions, and a portfolio that has stayed close to that stated mandate since the 2019 launch.

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.

• TMDV Small asset base and thin trading volume, so the cost of getting in and out can matter more here than with the category's heavyweights.
• 0.35% is several times what the largest dividend-growth funds charge: VIG, SCHD and DGRO all sit under a tenth of a percent.
• With roughly 60 holdings, single names and sector tilts carry real weight next to broad dividend funds that own hundreds of stocks.

Full SCHD profile⁠

Full TMDV profile⁠