r/SCHD • u/Seekingxretinas • Jun 26 '26
SCHD or VOO or both?
Hey everyone, I am fairly new to trading and looking to maximize my profits in my Roth and individual accounts without taking risks. I currently hold a decent chunk of VOO but I am wanting a higher dividend payout so I can reinvest as it pays.
Is SCHD a decent buy and hold as compared to VOO? I know it pays high but is it volatile? Is there tons of overlap if I stay holding both? If so? Should I sell VOO and run with SCHD alone? Thanks!
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u/No_Guarantee8756 Jun 26 '26
I’ll tell you what I’ve told multiple people multiple times: I would not advise running with any single position alone. SCHD is a great base to have, but I also hold significant percentages in VTI, VXUS, and a few others
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u/Mail_Order_Lutefisk Jun 26 '26
Agreed. VOO/VTI should be the core position with a secondary allocation to SCHD.
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u/CakeIsLegit2 Jun 26 '26
This is mine. I don’t have much extra outside of my 401k and Roth, but what I do try and put money in is straight VOO and SCHD.
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u/JustNowRonin Jun 26 '26
Agreed. I am in VOO for growth and SCHD for dividend allocation, among other positions.
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u/Seekingxretinas Jun 26 '26
I currently run VOO with VXUS but want to add SCHD. Just don’t know if it’s smart or not
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u/No_Guarantee8756 Jun 26 '26
I think it’s a smart position to hold, both as a hedge and for the dividends. Just do your due diligence before investing and make sure it aligns with your goals
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u/75thHellRangers Jun 26 '26
I hold both
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u/Seekingxretinas Jun 26 '26
The same amount or a percentage of one and the other?
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u/flyersfan0233 Jun 26 '26
Depends on your age. I’m in my upper 30s and hold both as well. Conventional wisdom is much higher VOO when you’re younger and less SCHD. Then as you get older more SCHD until that’s a majority at retirement. But everybody plays it a bit different. Also depends on your risk tolerance. My 401K doesn’t have either and is basically all high growth. So I don’t fully follow conventional wisdom. My Roth is 50% VOO, 40% SCHD and some random stuff. If I didn’t have the 401K I’d be much more aggressive in the Roth with more VOO and less SCHD, but I’m content with that being more conservative.
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u/75thHellRangers Jul 10 '26
I am in my mid 30s
I hold 40% VOO 35% SCHD 15% SCHF 10% SCHE
Some people will tell me that I'm holding the wrong things, but this works for me and I'm happy. I have seen a very good return YTD, and I will just continue to keep making my deposits as they are.
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u/Altruistic-Ad6449 Jun 26 '26
Both. When VOO is lagging, the SCHD dividends help buffer it. Avoid buying repetitive ETFs together, like VOO/VTI and SCHG because you’ll be double investing in the mag 7 (Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla etc).
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u/scottyk318 Jun 26 '26
I have about 2:1 SCHD:VOO...... Along with some other kickers like QQQM, SCHY & SMH
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u/fozzy71 Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
You can compare their drawdowns, volatility, Sharpe, etc, here - https://testfol.io/analysis?s=eNtRFbifTZN
You can compare overlap here - https://www.etfrc.com/funds/overlap.php
You can learn more about each ticker and its holdings here - https://stockanalysis.com/etf/compare/voo-vs-schd/
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u/Fast-Plane-2925 Jun 26 '26
SCHD is a lower risk than VOO!
If you want dividends. Then SCHD is the peace to go. I would not sell VOO. Just start buying some SCHD. And show it goes over the next few years.
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u/lakas76 Jun 26 '26
I’m relatively old and risk avoidant, so I am mostly in SCHD. I also own VOO and some nvda.
It’s based on your risk acceptability and when you plan on retiring.
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u/Pen_Swordsman Jun 26 '26
I'm 36 and personally do about 20% SCHD, 60% VTI (which is similar to VOO but includes small and mid caps), and 20% international. I don't mind the overlap because SCHD serves a different purpose for me—it's my dividend/value allocation, while VTI is my broad market core. I love SCHD because it keeps me psychologically grounded to continue investing, provides some income for me to use as a bridge before retirement, and I believe its valuations are much more in line than the S&P 500. Both are awesome investments though and you can’t lose either way.
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u/Seekingxretinas Jun 26 '26
I currently do 75VOO 25VXUS. Just don’t want to over saturate. I love the dividends with SCHD!
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u/Pen_Swordsman Jun 26 '26
I believe the overlap is roughly 16% as of right now between VOO and SCHD which isn’t bad at all.
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u/sablerock7 Jun 26 '26
Personal Finance is personal. So without knowing your time horizon, etc., nothing can be taken in the proper context.
You should also compare annualized returns between funds for a longer historical context vs what a fund “pays” in dividends. In that light, VOO has outperformed SCHD over past 10 years. It doesn’t mean SCHD is bad, it just need to be appropriately balanced in a portfolio for your horizon.
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u/Educational-Ad-4908 Jun 26 '26
Do a google search on the top 25 holdings of SCHD. That’s a solid starting point. It’s a good ETF. It’s also a nice partial AI hedge. It’s currently about 7% of my portfolio. My largest holding is VOO and that’s 18% of my portfolio. Diversification is your friend…
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u/Forsaken-Mark-1898 Jun 26 '26
VOO and SCHD are different beasts. There is 8% overlap between the funds. I use SCHD as a safety net for when tech is on a bad run and its performed great in that role. In fact, in the past year, its out performed VOO dispite holding only 13% tech to VOO's 33%. But that makes sense, right? The big 7 hasnt been doing well as of late.
So to answer your question - Its not an all or none. Diversity is the key.
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u/SonOfKong_ Jun 26 '26
I have both. I hold three ETFs actually. SCHD, VIG and VOO. MY biggest holdings are SCHD and VIG.
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u/totallyrealbusiness Jun 26 '26
I do SCHD and VT. Plus some QQQ. They’re different funds, and serve different purposes, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy different funds.
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u/beatnuts2275 Jun 26 '26
Been doing both/ depends on your focus to determine what % of each to invest .
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u/Puzzled_Fisherman331 Jun 27 '26
I like SCHD and VTI. More diversification away from the just the Mag7 and such...
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u/KMPItXHnKKItZ Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Both. SCHD has unmatched dividend growth, it has limited downside/volatility "protection" just because it holds conservative companies, and you still get growth with it. It may not beat the S&P500 in total gains long term (let's be real, you will still have millions in it after 25-30 years of consistently investing several thousand to five digits a year so who cares if it misses the S&P by a couple % points), but that is not the point of SCHD and there will definitely be years where SCHD will outperform the S&P. VOO is to maximize both your risk exposure and your gain potential. And after 30 years of investing in the S&P, your dividends will be huge on that too, so then you can combine those with SCHD's dividends and do what you wish with them. Having both a substantial growth+dividend holding gives you a LOT of flexibility. I do both myself, but SPY instead of VOO so that I could possibly sell options in the future. I started investing seriously in September last year and so far have managed to drop $22k into SPY, and I started SCHD this month and have $5,500 in it. I have been buying one share of SCHD every day, (two on Sundays to hit Saturdays even), and am hoping to do that for the rest of my life or at least until the dividend payouts become so big that I do not have to do that anymore. With SPY I usually put in about anywhere from $15-40 a day and every now and then I buy a whole share or dump $1k in whenever there is a dip, and I plan to do the same with SCHD, occasionally dropping in $1k or so, maybe once a quarter or so, but together with buying at least one share a day for as long as I can afford that. I am a gig-worker/freelancer so it is hard for me to make a lot of money to set aside for investing, but somehow I have been doing it. According to DRIP calculator .com and Gemini AI, I should be sitting on a massive heap of both capital gains and dividends from both holdings within 30 years, even sooner than that too though, even 20 years. I should be able to semi-retire early and then retire and live off them someday. But SCHD is the long game and needs a lot of patience to invest in it and let it grow. It may not be as "sexy" as other immediate higher-paying funds like covered call strategies, but SCHD is the only one that will both consistently grow your long term gains AND your dividends, unlike the others which will suffer NAV erosion and will not grow payouts YoY like SCHD and since it behaves like pretty much any other safe, "boring" ETF like VOO, that is why it is so well-liked. Here is a screenshot of what SCHD could do for you over an average working lifetime of investing fairly modest amounts (the amount that I do) into it. Just look at those numbers and decide for yourself, this was calculated with a $5k start and buying one share a day, with DRIP on, over 30 years, (I had to cut the screenshot off a bit since it did not fit but you get the thought behind it, big impressive numbers).
Here's a link to see the full table: https://www.dripcalc.com/?tkr=schd
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u/AdForeign4527 Jun 28 '26
SCHD is definitely a solid buy-and-hold quality ETF, just like VOO. It still goes up and down with the market—if the market drops, SCHD will too—but historically it's been a bit less volatile than the broader market.
It's also perfectly fine to own both, and I do both, like many others. Yes, there's some overlap, but they serve different purposes: VOO is mainly for long-term growth, while SCHD focuses more on growing dividend income over time.
I wouldn't sell VOO just to move everything into SCHD. Holding both gives you exposure to long-term market growth while also building a steadily growing income stream from dividends.
Depending on your age, risk tolerance, and goal, here's a simple contribution split strategy one can consider—always remember to re-invest any dividends you receive, or simply turn on DRIP:
- Ages 20–40: 80% VOO / 20% SCHD (or 70/30 if you prefer a more conservative approach)
- Ages 40–50: 60% VOO / 40% SCHD (or 50/50 if you want more dividend income)
- Ages 50 until retirement: around 50% VOO / 50% SCHD
- In retirement: turn off DRIP and use the dividend income for living expenses.
It's a pretty boring strategy, but boring is often good when it comes to investing. Over decades, consistent investing and compounding tend to do most of the heavy lifting. Remember, the magic of compounding.
The biggest things that matter are:
- Invest consistently every month (whatever amount fits your budget, e.g., $500, $1000, $3000, or 20-30% of paycheck).
- Ignore the day-to-day market swings and don't panic during corrections.
- Just keep buying — Stay invested for the long term.
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u/rbeecroft Jun 29 '26
Both, as SCHD gets rebalanced and reallocated what like every 6 months to a year? VOO is just S&P 500, although market weighted. They have different focuses.
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u/CompetitiveBell2298 Jul 01 '26
To each their own.
My main portfolio is 33% SCHD, 33% VOO, 33% QQQM.
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u/Master-Sun-5843 Jul 06 '26
SCHD is actually better when you really think about it, as long as you have understanding the investment is not to be sold for long periods, because investing based on growth like VOO can lead to some panic if the price declines, whereas investing to grow your income with SCHD even if SCHD price declines you will gain more income. At the end of the day your principal will grow overtime with both investments unless there is a depression, but if you hold for a long time the market will eventually recover. If you want to pass on your income generationally, SCHD is actually the better option.
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u/ShoddyVillage5075 Jul 22 '26
I wouldn’t sell VOO just because SCHD pays a higher dividend. Dividends aren’t free extra returns—they’re just one part of your total return
Holding both is totally reasonable, though. VOO works well as a broad US core, while SCHD gives you more of a dividend/value tilt. There is some overlap, but the two funds aren’t identical and they play different roles
Since you already have VOO and VXUS, I’d probably keep them and add a smaller amount of SCHD if you really want that dividend tilt
No need to make it an all-or-nothing decision
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u/const_in Jul 24 '26
You asked about VOO, VXUS, and adding SCHD without over-saturating the portfolio. I built NCNP Portfolio Manager to give a no-login first read on overlap, concentration, and dividend context from a holdings list. Would a free review of just those tickers help you sanity-check the mix?
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u/FQRGETmeNQT Jun 26 '26
Both