VHYL
Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield UCITS ETF Distributing
Published by Radif Partners · Updated
Overview
Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield UCITS ETF Distributing (VHYL) tracks the FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield index and holds its constituents directly, a physical replication managed by Vanguard. Dividends are paid out to holders rather than reinvested, so VHYL suits investors seeking regular income. The fund is domiciled in IE, which determines the withholding tax treatment applied to its dividends. Annual charges come to 0.29% of assets, and the fund holds 14.6B under management. Over five years the fund returned 8.4% a year on average, against 14.4% over three years. It is not eligible for the French PEA, but can be held in a securities account, a UK ISA or a German Depot. Its risk level is rated medium. Launched on 2013-05-21, the fund is denominated in USD and has 13 years of track record. It is a UCITS fund, so it follows the European framework on diversification, liquidity and asset segregation. Because VHYL distributes, every payment is taxable in the year it is received, against the dividend allowance in a general account, while it stays sheltered inside an ISA or a SIPP. Domicile in IE sets the withholding the fund itself suffers on the dividends it receives, a cost absent from the stated fee but present in the return.
Ongoing charges of 0.29% place this fund 7th of 21 comparable funds, whose median is 0.35%. On £10,000 that costs about 29 a year and 290 over ten years at a constant amount, deducted daily and never visible on a statement: it shows up in the gap between the fund's return and its index's. At this level, neither low enough to be an argument nor high enough to be an obstacle, the decision rests elsewhere: on the index tracked, on the distribution policy, and on what your broker charges to buy.
Replication is physical: the fund actually holds the constituents of FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield, which makes its contents verifiable line by line in the issuer's report. Two points deserve attention. Securities lending first, practised by most physical funds to reduce costs: it earns a few hundredths of a point and creates an exposure to the borrower, covered by collateral, with the annual report stating the proportion lent. Rebalancing second: every change in the index's composition forces the fund to buy and sell, and those internal costs are not in the 0.29% headline. That is why two funds at the same price do not track their index with the same fidelity.
The domicile, Ireland, is not an administrative detail: it determines the withholding tax the fund suffers on the dividends it receives, and that loss appears in no fee table. On US equities, the Ireland-US treaty cuts withholding from thirty to fifteen per cent, which on a world index is mechanically worth several tenths of a point a year and explains Irish dominance of this segment. For the holder, the UCITS framework also brings the key information document in their own language, diversification rules, and separation of the fund's assets from the issuer's.
Income is distributed: the fund pays out the dividends it receives, usually one to four times a year. For a holder living off the portfolio that is what is wanted, since the income arrives without selling. For someone still accumulating it is a tax disadvantage in a taxable account: each payment is taxed in the year received, so the amount reinvested is reduced before it starts working again. Reinvesting by hand also costs a dealing commission each time and often leaves cash idle for want of the price of a whole unit. An accumulating class on the same index, where one exists, settles the question.
With 14.6 billion in assets and 13 years of history, this fund has the size and the record that make closure unlikely and the spread narrow. Three checks remain, once a year, none of which depends on the market. The ongoing charge, which an issuer revises without notice and whose gap to a competitor can invert. The tracking difference, the only figure that says whether replication stays faithful. And the methodology of FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield, which can change its selection or weighting rules without the fund's name moving, in which case what you hold has changed with nothing to announce it.
FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield selects companies on their dividend, and that is an investment decision rather than a measurement. A high yield comes either from a solid payer or from a company whose price has fallen, and the screen does not always tell them apart: a yield index ends up mechanically overweight in the sectors that distribute heavily because they have little to reinvest. What counts is the selection rule, often several years of rising dividends, and the sector cap. A dividend, moreover, is not a return: it leaves the company and the price adjusts by as much.
Over one year the fund shows 16.6% against 8.4% annualised over five years: the recent year sits well above the long average. A gap in that direction mainly counsels care about the entry point, since what has risen sharply lately costs more today than a year ago, and the long average is the figure that best describes what to expect.
0.29%
14.6B
14,613M USDMedium
85
Physical
Distributing
USD
IE
FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield
Vanguard
2013-05-21 (13 years)
Contextual Analysis
Fund Size
With 14.6B in assets, this is a large fund, good liquidity and tight spreads.
Fee Positioning
A TER of 0.29% is in line with the market average (~0.35%).
Track Record
Launched in 2013-05-21, this fund has 13 years of history, long and reliable track record.
Risk Profile
Medium risk, good risk/return balance for a 5+ year horizon.
Performance
Returns Summary
| Period | Ann. Return | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Month (est.) | – | +1.3% |
| 3 Months (est.) | – | +3.9% |
| 6 Months (est.) | – | +8.0% |
| YTD (est.) | – | +6.6% |
| 1 Year | +16.6% | +16.6% |
| 3 Years | +14.4% | +49.7% |
| 5 Years | +8.4% | +49.5% |
| Since inception (13y) | +13.1% | +396.2% |
Key Facts
Fund Profile
Themes & Zones
Holdings
Risk
How to Buy This ETF
Select your country in the menu to see available brokers and wrappers.
About this ETF
The Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield UCITS ETF Distributing tracks the FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield index. It is managed by Vanguard using physical replication and follows a distributing distribution policy. The fund is denominated in USD and domiciled in IE. It has a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.29%.
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Frequently asked questions
What do VHYL's 0.29% charges actually cost?
They are taken from the fund's value continuously and never billed separately: on £1,000 invested that is about £2.90 a year and roughly £29 over ten years at a constant amount. That is the only cost of the fund itself. Your broker's commission and the spread between buying and selling price come on top, and they weigh most on small frequent purchases.
Does VHYL pay dividends?
Yes: the fund distributes and pays out the dividends it receives, on a calendar set by Vanguard. The payment is taxable in the year you receive it in most accounts, even if reinvested at once, and reinvesting by hand costs a commission each time. An accumulating class on the same index avoids that friction for anyone who does not need the income.
What currency risk comes with VHYL?
The fund is denominated in USD, but the trading currency is not the risk: what counts is the currency in which the companies held earn their revenue. A euro-based investor therefore carries the gap between the euro and those currencies, and that gap appears in no return published in local currency. A hedged share class answers a different question, at a cost that varies with the interest rate gap.
How do you buy VHYL, and on which venue?
Through any broker that lists ISIN IE00B8GKDB10. The same strategy often exists in several share classes with different fees and distribution policies, and what counts is the class you buy rather than the one you read about: check the ISIN, not the name. A limit order avoids paying the spread of a thin order book, particularly outside the trading hours of the underlying markets.
Is VHYL genuinely diversified?
Less so than the number of holdings suggests. FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield weights its constituents by market capitalisation, so the largest companies make up a share of the fund far above their number, and that concentration deepens without any rule changing. The useful check is the weight of the top ten holdings, published monthly by Vanguard: that figure says how many companies the outcome actually depends on.
This ranking is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Displayed performance is simulated.