SYLD vs VIG

SYLDDCambria Shareholder Yield ETF

VIGAVanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

In short

SYLD Most dividend funds count one thing: the payout. SYLD counts every way a company hands cash back, dividends, buybacks and debt paydown, in an active, roughly 100-stock US portfolio running since 2013.

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

SYLD The fund seeks income and capital appreciation through an actively managed portfolio of U.S.-based publicly listed companies with high shareholder yield, measured through dividends, buybacks and debt paydowns.

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

• SYLD Dividends are one route back to shareholders. This screen also credits buybacks and debt paydown, so it can own cash generators a pure yield list skips.cambriafunds.com
• Actively managed, not index-tracking: about 100 US names chosen on cash returned, rather than whatever a fixed rulebook happens to catch at rebalance.
• Live since 2013 with billions in assets and quarterly distributions. A funded, road-tested strategy, not a launch-year experiment.

• 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

• SYLD At 0.59% it costs more than the typical dividend-screen fund, and index heavyweights like SCHD and VIG charge a fraction of that. Active picking is the bill.
• Thinly traded next to the big dividend ETFs, so spreads and limit orders deserve a look before you hit the button.
• It measures itself against the S&P 500 while holding about 100 value-tilted names, so its path can diverge widely from the broad market in either direction.

• 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 SYLD profile⁠

Full VIG profile⁠