SCHD’s Tiny Fee Masks a 38% Ten-Year Performance Gap

SCHD’s 0.06% expense ratio is tiny, but the fund’s concentration—top 10 holdings make up about 40% of assets, with energy exposure around 17%—has coincided with a 38% lag to WisdomTree’s DGRW over the last decade, costing roughly $3,800 on a $10,000 investment. A March 2026 reconstitution also reduced a quarterly dividend, underscoring that income can be unstable despite a “defensive” label. For broader income, consider VYM; for a quality-growth tilt, DGRW; and for broader diversification you may already hold similar exposure in VOO or VIG. In short, the fee is cheap, but the real cost is opportunity cost and concentration, not the expense ratio.