I get this question myself a number of times as well as see it in a lot of dividend group chats. People look at something like QYLD which pays 13.21% and SCHD which pays 3.41% and ask, why would you buy SCHD over QYLD?
I get it, 13.21% is higher than 3.41% right?
Before I answer you need to decide what are you looking for? Long term growth or income right now? If you are retired and looking current income then QYLD might be the right 
option for you. If you are looking 10 years or more down the road, then I am going to show you why SCHD may be the better option.
A couple of things I look at when I am comparing EFT’s (stocks have some more things I look at in addition to these).
- Current Dividend.
- 5 Year Dividend Growth.
- 10 Year Dividend Growth.
- Long Term Price Change.
- Current Holdings. If you don’t like the holdings maybe this isn’t the right EFT for you.
Below I am going to post the tables I created for both SCHD and QYLD so you can see how your investment changed, but let’s talk about the results first.
First of all I am assuming an initial investment of $10,000.00 with no other outside additions by you during the 10 years. I am also assuming you reinvest all dividends you get back into shares of the EFT, thereby increasing your total number of shares. You will not be taking any money out of the investment during the 10 years.
(I only did 9 years for QYLD because that is all the data I had)
The two most important things I look at from my table are:Total Investment Change and Total Yearly Dividend Change.
Let’s look at the results:
Over the past 10 years a $10,000.00 investment in SCHD would have increased to $34,500.00 or 245%
Over the past 9 years a $10,000.00 investment in QYLD would have increased to $16,200.00 or 62%.
If you had invested in SCHD your account would have been worth twice as much even though QYLD paid a MUCH higher dividend.
Over the past 10 years a $10,000.00 investment in SCHD would have given you an increase in your yearly dividend of 388% or about $1,200.00 per year.
Over the past 9 years a $10,000.00 investment in QYLD would have given you an increase in your yearly dividend of about 150% or about $2,700.00 per year.
You can see your QYLD dividend is much higher because it pays out at a higher rate, which is why I said sometimes the right investment depends on what your goal is.
Of course if you had been smart enough to invest in SCHD for the first 10 years as you approach retirement and then sell out that position and purchase QYLD then your yearly income going forward would be about 13% of $34,5000.00 or $4,485.00 which I why I said sometimes what is best depends on where you are in your life.
SCHD Table:
| Initial Investment | $10,000.00 | Avg Yrly Price | |||||||
| Begin | Beg Year | Year End | Dividend | Shares from | Year End | Year End | Yearly | ||
| Year | Value | Stock$ | Shs Owned | Dividend Yield | Income | Reinvestment | Shares | Value | Change |
| 2013 | $10,000.00 | $28.87 | 346.38 | 2.47% | $247.00 | 7.55 | 353.93 | $12,932.70 | 29.33% |
| 2014 | $12,932.70 | $36.54 | 353.93 | 2.63% | $340.13 | 8.90 | 362.83 | $14,487.74 | 12.02% |
| 2015 | $14,487.74 | $39.93 | 362.83 | 2.97% | $430.29 | 11.03 | 373.86 | $14,229.22 | -1.78% |
| 2016 | $14,229.22 | $38.06 | 373.86 | 2.89% | $411.22 | 10.05 | 383.91 | $16,815.25 | 18.17% |
| 2017 | $16,815.25 | $43.80 | 383.91 | 2.63% | $442.24 | 9.29 | 393.20 | $20,194.99 | 20.10% |
| 2018 | $20,194.99 | $51.36 | 393.20 | 3.06% | $617.97 | 12.65 | 405.85 | $18,807.31 | -6.87% |
| 2019 | $18,807.31 | $46.34 | 405.85 | 2.98% | $560.46 | 10.72 | 416.58 | $24,240.69 | 28.89% |
| 2020 | $24,240.69 | $58.19 | 416.58 | 3.16% | $766.01 | 12.50 | 429.08 | $27,628.22 | 13.97% |
| 2021 | $27,628.22 | $64.39 | 429.08 | 2.78% | $768.06 | 10.57 | 439.65 | $35,567.61 | 28.74% |
| 2022 | $35,567.61 | $80.90 | 439.65 | 3.39% | $1,205.74 | 15.39 | 455.04 | $34,505.33 | -2.99% |
| 2023 | $34,505.33 | $75.83 | 455.04 | ||||||
|
10 Investment Year Change
|
245.05% | ||||||||
|
10 Price Change
|
162.66% | ||||||||
|
10 Year Dividend Change
|
37% | ||||||||
|
10 Dividend Income Change
|
388.15% |
QYLD Table:
| Initial Investment | $10,000.00 | Avg Yrly Price | |||||||
| Begin | Beg Year | Year End | Dividend | Shares from | Year End | Year End | Yearly | ||
| Year | Value | Stock$ | Shs Owned | Dividend Yield | Income | Reinvestment | Shares | Value | Change |
| 2014 | $10,000.00 | $25.44 | 393.08 | 10.74% | $1,074.00 | 43.41 | 436.49 | $10,493.30 | 4.93% |
| 2015 | $10,493.30 | $24.04 | 436.49 | 9.42% | $988.47 | 41.75 | 478.24 | $11,147.89 | 6.24% |
| 2016 | $11,147.89 | $23.31 | 478.24 | 9.15% | $1,020.03 | 44.53 | 522.78 | $11,762.50 | 5.51% |
| 2017 | $11,762.50 | $22.50 | 522.78 | 7.69% | $904.54 | 38.47 | 561.24 | $13,767.32 | 17.04% |
| 2018 | $13,767.32 | $24.53 | 561.24 | 12.44% | $1,712.66 | 75.33 | 636.58 | $13,329.89 | -3.18% |
| 2019 | $13,329.89 | $20.94 | 636.58 | 9.77% | $1,302.33 | 58.34 | 694.91 | $16,476.33 | 23.60% |
| 2020 | $16,476.33 | $23.71 | 694.91 | 11.16% | $1,838.76 | 78.98 | 773.90 | $17,683.50 | 7.33% |
| 2021 | $17,683.50 | $22.85 | 773.90 | 12.85% | $2,272.33 | 100.75 | 874.64 | $19,469.51 | 10.10% |
| 2022 | $19,469.51 | $22.26 | 874.64 | 13.75% | $2,677.06 | 139.98 | 1,014.62 | $16,223.74 | -16.67% |
| 2023 | $16,223.74 | $15.99 | 1,014.62 | ||||||
|
9 Investment Year Change
|
62.24% | ||||||||
|
9 Price Change
|
-37.15% | ||||||||
|
9 Year Dividend Yield Change
|
28% | ||||||||
|
9 Dividend Income Change
|
149.26% |