SCHD vs VSDA

SCHDASchwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF

VSDABVictoryShares Dividend Accelerator 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.

VSDA Most dividend growth funds reward the past. VSDA tracks a Nasdaq index that runs a statistical model on large and mid cap payers to rank who is likeliest to raise dividends next year, aiming at payout growth over fat yield.

Stated mandate

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

VSDA The Fund seeks to track the Nasdaq Victory Dividend Accelerator Index before fees and expenses.

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.

• VSDA The index runs a logit model over 14 variables to rank which dividend payers are likeliest to raise next year, then holds 75 of them. Streak counting is only part of it.nasdaqomx.comnasdaqomx.com 2
• Weights lean on dividend yield and 10-year net income stability instead of market cap, REITs are screened out, and the roster refreshes at quarterly rebalances.nasdaqomx.com
• Pays monthly, and it has tracked its index live since its 2017 launch, not on backtested paper.
• Narrow mandate: at least 80% of assets in index securities, with no manager discretion over which stocks make the cut.sec.gov

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.

• VSDA The 0.40% fee sits near the middle of the dividend-screen crowd, but index giants like VIG (0.04%) and SCHD (0.06%) charge a fraction of it.
• Assets are modest and trading is thin next to the category's household names, so bid-ask spreads tend to run wider.
• Forecasts are odds, not promises. A flagged raiser can freeze its payout, and the index waits for the next quarterly rebalance to respond.nasdaqomx.com

Full SCHD profile⁠

Full VSDA profile⁠