USPX vs VOO

USPXAFranklin U.S. Equity Index ETF

VOOAVanguard S&P 500 ETF

In short

USPX The odd one out in the S&P 500 aisle. Franklin's fund tracks a Morningstar large-cap benchmark instead, for three basis points. Same big-US-stocks job, different scorecard, and a fee that undercuts most of the peer group.

VOO Not a standalone ETF but a share class of Vanguard's flagship 500 Index Fund: the same roughly 500 large US companies, 0.03% a year, in a wrapper you can trade all day.

Stated mandate

USPX The fund seeks to provide U.S. equity exposure through an index-based strategy.

VOO The fund invests in stocks represented by the S&P 500 Index and seeks to closely track that index's return as a measure of overall U.S. stock performance.

Why people hold it

• USPX 0.03% a year, a fraction of the roughly 0.15% typical in its peer group and level with the fee on VOO and IVV.
• Sticks close to its Morningstar US Target Market Exposure Index, one of the tighter index-following records among the S&P 500 wrappers it sits beside.
• Rules-based cap-weighted US equity, roughly 190 names, no factor tilts or manager picks. Pays quarterly.
• Running since 2016 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, with Franklin Templeton behind it.

• VOO 0.03% a year against a 0.15% median for S&P 500 trackers. On a fund this size, that fee gap is the whole product.
• Holds the index outright, all roughly 500 names, and its tracking record sits among the tightest in the S&P 500 group.investor.vanguard.com
• One of the most actively traded ETFs in the market, which tends to keep the cost of getting in and out small.
• It is the ETF share class of Vanguard's 500 Index Fund, and Vanguard is owned by its own funds, so no outside parent takes a cut.personal1.vanguard.comsec.gov

Worth knowing

• USPX Different index, different constituent rules. Holdings and returns can drift from the S&P 500 trackers most people compare it to.
• Moderately traded rather than a volume monster like SPY, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads than the biggest names in the category.
• Fewer names than the 500-stock benchmarks next door, and cap weighting keeps the largest US companies in the driver's seat.

• VOO Large US companies only, weighted by size, so the biggest few names carry the most weight and drive much of the move.spglobal.com
• Membership is not purely mechanical: an S&P index committee decides which companies come in and go out.spglobal.com
• SPYM tracks the same index for 0.02%. A rounding error for most, but real if cost is your only tiebreaker.

Full USPX profile⁠

Full VOO profile⁠