SCHG vs VUG

SCHGASchwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF

VUGAVanguard Morningstar Growth ETF

In short

SCHG Schwab's growth workhorse: roughly 200 large-cap U.S. growth names for four basis points, one of the cheapest tickets in a crowded category. Running since 2009 and among the most heavily traded growth funds around.

VUG Three basis points buys roughly 170 US large-cap growth names. Running since 2004, over $100 billion in assets, and it tracks its index about as closely as an index fund can.

Stated mandate

SCHG SCHG seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Growth Total Stock Market Index. It generally invests in stocks included in that index, which represents large-cap U.S. growth equities.

VUG The fund seeks to track a benchmark index measuring the investment return of large-capitalization growth stocks.

Why people hold it

• SCHG 0.04% a year against a growth-category median of 0.18%. Costs sit near the floor of the group.
• Hews closely to the Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Growth Total Stock Market Index, one of the tighter index implementations in its peer group.
• Live since 2009, a multi-billion-dollar fund, and one of the busier tickers in the growth aisle, so entering and exiting is usually cheap and easy.
• The benchmark is carved out of a total-market growth index, not S&P 500 membership, so a stock does not need an index committee's nod to qualify.

• VUG 0.03% a year against a 0.18% median for its growth peer group. A rival tracking the same declared index charges 0.36%, twelve times more for the same shopping list.vanguard.com
• One of the largest and most heavily traded funds in US large-cap growth, and among the tightest index implementations in that group. Deep volume tends to mean thin spreads.
• Trading since January 2004, so the record spans full market cycles rather than a backtest. Distributions land quarterly.

Worth knowing

• SCHG Growth-only by design. Value and dividend-heavy corners of the market sit outside the mandate, so the ride differs from a total-market fund.
• Large-cap U.S. only, roughly 200 stocks. No mid-caps, no small-caps, nothing overseas.
• VUG charges a hair less for a similar broad-growth mandate. A tiny gap, but it is there. Distributions here arrive quarterly.

• VUG Cap-weighted, so the biggest mega-caps dominate the top of the book. That makes it one of the more concentrated portfolios in this cohort.vanguard.com
• A style sleeve, not the whole market: growth screens only, large caps only. When growth is out of favor it can swing harder than a total-market fund.
• SPYG and SCHG sit at 0.04%, so the price edge is a rounding error. The real gap is how each index defines a growth stock.

Full SCHG profile⁠

Full VUG profile⁠