In the five years to September 2026, VIG returned 10.7% a year and DGRO returned 11.0%, dividends reinvested. VIG and DGRO both hold companies that keep raising their dividends. They draw the line in slightly different places, which leaves them with similar portfolios and similar results.
For a representative saver about twenty years from retirement, investing in a taxable account: In this situation, VIG and DGRO come out about even. Neither their known costs nor their last five years change the plan's success rate enough to matter.
With only the known costs — the same market for both funds, differing by fees and dividend tax — the money lasted in 89.6% of 10,000 simulated futures with VIG and 88.8% with DGRO. Using each fund's own returns from October 2021 to September 2026 instead, the figures were 88.5% and 89.8%. Both funds were run against the identical sequence of market shocks.
Where each draws the line. VIG asks for ten straight years of increases and drops the highest yielders. DGRO follows its own index’s growth rules. The different rules change which companies make the cut at the edges; most of the money sits in the same kind of large, steady payer.
VIG tracks the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index — it holds companies with ten straight years of dividend increases, excluding the highest-yielding quartile. DGRO tracks the Morningstar US Dividend Growth Index — it holds US companies with a history of consistently growing dividends.
VIG charges 0.04% a year and yields 1.48%; DGRO charges 0.08% and yields 1.87%.
Returns and volatility are measured from monthly returns with dividends reinvested over 60 months — one sample from one market, and weak evidence for telling two broad funds apart, which is why the known-cost result is reported first. Dividends are taxed at 15% in a taxable account by default, the qualified rate most households pay; the page also shows the 0% and 20% brackets. It is the only tax modeled. A 3.8% net investment income tax can also apply to dividends once modified adjusted gross income passes $200,000 ($250,000 joint); it is not included. Retirement spending is held at 70% of income in today's dollars, and contributions exclude any employer match.
Neither by a margin you can count on. Fees and yields are close, so any gap the simulation shows mostly comes from which one had the better last five years.