SDOG vs VIG

SDOGBALPS Sector Dividend Dogs ETF

VIGAVanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

In short

SDOG Dogs of the Dow, run sector by sector. SDOG buys the five highest-yielding stocks in each of ten US sectors and weights them equally, so the usual yield pileup into utilities and energy can't swallow the portfolio. Running since 2012.

VIG VIG buys dividend growth, not fat yields: about 300 US companies with a record of raising their payouts, tracked for 0.04% a year. Running since 2006 and now north of $100 billion, it is the plain-vanilla anchor of the dividend-screen aisle.

Stated mandate

SDOG The Fund seeks to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the S-Network Sector Dividend Dogs Index. That index selects the five highest-yielding stocks from each of ten U.S. GICS sectors, excluding real estate, and equally weights them.

VIG The fund seeks to track the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index, which represents common stocks of companies with a record of increasing dividends over time.

Why people hold it

• SDOG Sector-neutral by construction: five top yielders from each of ten US GICS sectors, equally weighted. Yield hunting with guardrails instead of a bet on whichever sector happens to pay most.alpsfunds.com
• Roughly 50 names, equally weighted. No single mega-cap dominates the way it can in cap-weighted dividend funds.
• Trading since 2012, it tracks its index closely and ranks among the stronger implementations in its dividend-screen peer group. Income is paid quarterly.

• VIG At 0.04% a year, the fee is roughly a tenth of the typical dividend-screen fund's 0.39%, and undercuts every other top-graded fund in the group, DGRO and SCHD included.
• The screen rewards a record of increasing dividends rather than the biggest current payout, so the basket leans on payout discipline instead of stretched yields.
• Live since 2006, over $100 billion in assets and actively traded, which shows up as easy fills rather than wide spreads.
• About 300 holdings, cash paid quarterly, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its dividend-screen peer group.

Worth knowing

• SDOG At 0.36% a year, it costs multiples of the cap-weighted heavyweights (SCHD at 0.06%, VIG at 0.04%). The sector-equal-weight rulebook is what the extra buys.
• Real estate is excluded from the index outright, so REIT income never enters the portfolio.alpsfunds.com
• Screening for the highest yielders in each sector is a value tilt, and a fat yield sometimes marks a company the market has already knocked down.

• VIG Growth of payouts, not maximum income, is the mandate. That puts it on a different axis than high-dividend funds such as SPYD.
• US stocks only, no bonds and no overseas payers, and sector weights are whatever the index screen spits out.
• Portfolio risk and concentration measures land mid-pack for the category: it is fully invested in equities and drops when the market drops.

Full SDOG profile⁠

Full VIG profile⁠