SCHY vs VIGI

SCHYASchwab International Dividend Equity ETF

VIGIAVanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF

In short

SCHY Schwab's dividend playbook with a passport: an index of non-US high payers filtered for sustained dividends, financial strength and low volatility, run for 0.08% a year while the typical fund in its group charges 0.50%.

VIGI Vanguard's dividend-growth playbook, taken overseas: roughly 400 non-US companies chosen for a record of raising payouts rather than for fat current yields, wrapped in a seven-basis-point fee.

Stated mandate

SCHY The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, an index of high-dividend-yielding stocks issued by companies outside the United States. Its index methodology emphasizes sustained dividend payments, relative financial strength, and lower volatility.

VIGI The fund passively tracks an index of non-U.S. companies with a history of increasing dividends, using the S&P Global Ex-U.S. Dividend Growers Index as its target index.

Why people hold it

• SCHY Costs 0.08% a year against a 0.50% median for international dividend screens, one of the cheapest ways to rent this strategy.
• The index does more than chase yield: it screens for sustained payers, relative financial strength and lower volatility. Cash goes out quarterly.
• A plain passive tracker of the Dow Jones International Dividend 100 Index that has hugged its benchmark closely, with a multibillion-dollar base and shares that trade actively.
• Stands among the stronger implementations in its international dividend peer group on cost, tracking and tradability.

• VIGI At 0.07% a year, it sits at the cheapest fee level in its peer group (matched only by sibling VYMI) and well under funds like IGRO at 0.15%.
• The screen asks for a history of increasing dividends, not the biggest payout, which tilts the basket toward companies with durable cash flow.
• Plain index plumbing: roughly 400 stocks across developed and emerging markets outside the US, and it stays close to its S&P target index.
• Running since 2016, now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades steadily and pays quarterly.

Worth knowing

• SCHY Roughly 130 stocks, a narrower net than a broad international fund. Dividend screens naturally bunch up in a handful of sectors and countries.
• Launched in 2021, so it carries a shorter live record than the veterans of international dividend investing.
• Two neighbors shave the fee a touch further: VYMI and VIGI charge 0.07%, though each screens for different things.

• VIGI Growth of the dividend, not the size of it. Income here runs lighter than yield-first peers such as VYMI or SCHY.
• Holdings are priced in foreign currencies, so dollar moves push returns around in both directions on top of the stocks themselves.
• Emerging markets ride along with developed ones here, a wider net than international dividend funds that stop at developed markets.

Full SCHY profile⁠

Full VIGI profile⁠