VDY.TO DRIP & Distribution Calculator

What is VDY.TO?

Vanguard FTSE Canadian High Dividend Yield Index ETF, launched January 1, 2012.

VDY.TO — Vanguard FTSE Canadian High Dividend Yield Index ETF

VDY is about as plain-vanilla as Canadian dividend ETFs get. It just holds a broad basket of Canadian companies that pay above-average dividends — no covered calls, no borrowed money, no fund-of-funds layering. It tracks an index (the FTSE Canada High Dividend Yield Index), automatically rebalancing to whatever that index says the highest-yielding Canadian dividend payers are. About 60 stocks in total, and it's noticeably tilted toward two sectors: roughly 61% banks and other financials, and 27% energy. The top ten holdings alone (mostly the Big Six banks plus Enbridge, Canadian Natural Resources, TC Energy, and Suncor) make up close to 70% of the fund, so while it's "diversified" in the sense of holding 60 companies, it's really a concentrated bet on Canadian banks and energy doing well.

On fees: the management fee is 0.20% and the all-in MER is 0.22% — genuinely low, and no hidden layer of underlying-fund fees to worry about since it holds individual stocks directly rather than other funds.

It pays monthly, currently around $0.18/share, which works out to a yield in the high-2% range at today's price (about $77.56/share). That's meaningfully lower than the "high-yield" covered-call funds on this site — VDY isn't trying to maximize monthly income, it's just letting a basket of solid dividend-payers do what they do. Performance has been strong lately (roughly 31% over the last calendar year, and double digits in three of the last four years), but that's been a good stretch for Canadian banks and energy specifically — this fund will move with those two sectors, for better or worse, more than the broader market. Since its inception in November 2012, it's compounded at roughly 12.8% a year, which is a long enough track record (13+ years) to mean something, though even that number carries a 2022 reminder built in: it was basically flat that year while rates were rising.

Official fund page →

Not sure how a fund like this generates its payout? See Covered-Call ETFs Explained.

Risk: Medium risk

What's the actual risk rating?

Vanguard's own fund facts rate VDY "Medium" risk — the standard rating based on how much its year-to-year returns have swung historically. That lines up reasonably well with how it's actually followed: analysts tracked on Stockchase have been positive on it (recent calls have leaned buy, including a Top Pick nod from one analyst earlier this year), and one commonly cited quantitative risk score actually implies lower-than-typical risk relative to other funds. There isn't a real gap here the way there is with the leveraged or heavy-covered-call funds — the honest read is that VDY's risk mostly comes down to sector concentration (banks and energy) rather than anything structural like leverage or capped upside, and the people who follow it seem to see it that way too.

Plain-English bottom line: There's no leverage and no capped upside here — just a straightforward bet concentrated in Canadian banks and energy. The "Medium" rating and the analysts who track it both point the same direction: a comparatively steady fund within this category.

Price trend: Growing

A high yield alone doesn't say whether a fund's price is holding up or quietly being eaten away to help fund the payout — this looks at that separately, using the fund's real price history, not a prediction. Declining doesn't mean the fund is a bad choice; some funds are built to pay out more than they grow, on purpose. It just means part of what you're receiving may be a return of your own money rather than new income.

Est. +9.9%/yr price growth since inception (SI total return 13.02%/yr annualized over ~13.7 yrs since Nov 2012 vs. current yield ~3.1%)

This page is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. It does not account for taxes, fees, or changes in distribution rates, and past distributions are not a guarantee of future payments. Consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.

Try the Portfolio Mix Calculator → to model VDY.TO alongside other holdings.