SCHG Calculator

What SCHG actually holds

SCHG is the Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF, and it tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Growth Total Stock Market Index — roughly the growth half of large-cap America, screened on measures such as sales and earnings growth. That makes it broader than a single-exchange product: it holds on the order of 200-plus names across sectors, not just the 100 non-financial Nasdaq listings inside QQQ. What the two share is a heavy mega-cap technology tilt at the top, so in practice their largest positions overlap. The reason it appears in a dividend calculator at all is honesty by contrast: SCHG's distribution yield sits near ~0.4%, one of the smallest in this cluster, because growth companies retain earnings rather than pay them out. The income line above is intentionally flat — SCHG is owned for the price-growth band the chart tries to capture, not for a check.

SCHG vs VUG vs QQQ — the trade-offs

SCHG's defining edge is cost: at a 0.04% expense ratio it is one of the cheapest large-cap growth funds available, undercutting QQQ's 0.20% by a wide margin over a long hold, and matching Vanguard's VUG almost exactly. Against VUG the choice is close to a coin flip — different index providers, near-identical mega-cap growth exposure, same rock-bottom fee — which is why this calculator treats VUG as SCHG's reference peer, and why the dividend-growth input is anchored to VUG's observed history rather than to a noisy SCHG trailing window. Against QQQ the difference is breadth and rules: SCHG is a broader, sector-agnostic growth screen, while QQQ is defined by the Nasdaq listing rule and excludes financials by construction. None of these is a diversified core the way a total-market fund is; concentration at the top cuts both ways, which is why the price band widens rather than narrows as your horizon grows.

Why the income line stays flat

With DRIP on, each tiny SCHG distribution buys a few more shares, and those shares pay their own dividend next period — but on a ~0.4% yield that loop barely moves the needle. Almost all of the compounding you see in the value line comes from price growth, not from reinvested dividends, and yield-on-cost stays low even over decades because it is climbing from a near-zero base. That is the honest split against a fund like SCHD, where a higher starting yield and reinvestment do most of the lifting. Toggle DRIP off here and the income line hardly changes, which tells you SCHG's entire story is capital appreciation, not a growing payout. If your question is "how much can this pay me?", SCHG answers with a small number; if it is "how much might this grow?", SCHG belongs in the conversation — and the chart deliberately shows that growth as a band, because the rate is uncertain.

The tax picture: a small dividend, a deferred gain

SCHG's distributions are generally qualified dividends, taxed at long-term capital-gains rates in a taxable brokerage account — but at ~0.4% the annual dividend tax is rarely the main event. The larger consideration is the capital gain you realise when you eventually sell: a fund held for years of price growth can carry a substantial embedded gain, and selling in a taxable account triggers tax on that appreciation. Held inside a Roth or Traditional IRA, both the reinvested dividends and the eventual sale compound without that terminal bill. The Account toggle above models this: the default taxable projection subtracts the small qualified-dividend tax before reinvesting and the deferred capital-gains tax when shares are sold at the horizon — the line that actually matters for a growth fund — while a Traditional IRA or Roth compounds both untaxed. Switch it to see the after-tax gap, and see the guide below for how qualified versus ordinary treatment changes any dividend number.