Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IYF vs VFH: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IYF returned +7.8% to VFH's +7.5%; 74% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $3.7bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares U.S. Financials ETF, and $12.7bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Financials ETF.
Pair scorecard
VFH costs 0.28 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.3 points; VFH is 3.3 times larger.
| Measure | IYF | VFH |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +7.8% | +7.5% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 5.6%, high on Sep 3, 2026 | 4.4%, high on Sep 3, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Russell 1000 Financials 40 Act 15/22 | MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Financials 25/50 |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.37% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $3.8bn | $12.7bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 74% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 48.3% | 48.2% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Feb 6, 2004 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,185 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: IYF against IWB, Jun 2, 2000 to Oct 23, 2026; VFH against FNCL, Nov 1, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
VFH returned slightly more: +334.6% to +325.5%. IYF swung slightly less: 24.2% to 24.8%. IYF and VFH fell about the same at their worst: −79.1% and −78.6%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IYF | VFH | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +325.5% | +334.6% | VFH (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +6.6% | +6.7% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +182.6% | +169.5% | IYF (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 24.2% | 24.8% | IYF (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 16.8% | 17.1% | Tie | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −79.1% | −78.6% | Tie | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 111.4% | 99.9% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 107.0% | 99.9% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.17 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.75 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.31 | 0.31 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.44 | 0.45 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.063 | 0.112 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.08 | 0.08 | Tie | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IWB | FNCL | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −1.6% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.70 | −0.02 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −6.2% to +2.9% | −0.3% to +0.3% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.03 | 0.03 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 12.4% | 0.6% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,185 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, IYF and VFH hold 74% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
74% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
IYF and VFH on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
IYF and VFH are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. IYF follows Russell 1000 Financials 40 Act 15/22 and VFH follows MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Financials 25/50.
- Cost. IYF charges 0.37% of assets a year and VFH 0.09%, a gap of 0.28 points.
- Size. IYF has $3.8bn in net assets and VFH $12.7bn (net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026); VFH is 3.3 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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IYF
IYF tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +7.8% with distributions reinvested, against +13.1% for its benchmark, the Russell 1000 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.37% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 89% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 144 positions, with the top ten at 48.3%. It sat 5.6% below its high of Sep 3, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
VFH
VFH tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +7.5% with distributions reinvested, against +7.6% for its benchmark, the MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Financials 25/50. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 83% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 425 positions, with the top ten at 48.2%. It sat 4.4% below its high of Sep 3, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, IYF or VFH?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IYF returned +7.8% and VFH +7.5%.
- Which is cheaper, IYF or VFH?
- VFH is cheaper, by 0.28 percentage points a year. That is about $28 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, IYF against VFH, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iyf-vs-vfh
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). IYF against VFH. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iyf-vs-vfh
[IYF against VFH (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iyf-vs-vfh)
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