Breaking Up With U.S. Stocks? SPDW Offers Lower Costs and Higher Yield Than ACWX.

1 week ago 9

Sarah Sidlow, The Motley Fool

Sun, January 25, 2026 astatine 11:00 AM CST 5 min read

SPDW charges a overmuch little disbursal ratio and presently offers a higher dividend output than ACWX.
SPDW covers lone developed markets extracurricular the United States, portion ACWX includes some developed and different non-U.S. equities.
Both funds person tracked intimately connected hazard and drawdown, but SPDW has delivered stronger five-year growth.
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SPDR Portfolio Developed World ex-US ETF (NYSEMKT:SPDW) and iShares MSCI ACWI ex US ETF (NASDAQ:ACWX) disagree meaningfully connected cost, marketplace coverage, and assemblage mix, with SPDW offering little fees and higher yield, portion ACWX brings broader non-U.S. equity vulnerability and a somewhat higher exertion allocation.

SPDW and ACWX are some ample planetary equity ETFs, but they instrumentality chiseled approaches. SPDW focuses connected developed markets extracurricular the United States, portion ACWX tracks a broader beingness of large- and mid-capitalization non-U.S. equities, making this examination applicable for investors weighing outgo against broader diversification.

Metric

SPDW

ACWX

Issuer	SPDR	iShares
Expense ratio	0.03%	0.32%
1-yr instrumentality (as of 1/9/2026)	37.84%	35.89%
Dividend yield	3.3%	2.83%
Beta	1.03	1.02
AUM	$33.45 billion	$7.87 billion

Beta measures terms volatility comparative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year play returns. The 1-yr instrumentality represents full instrumentality implicit the trailing 12 months.

SPDW stands retired arsenic the much affordable option, with an disbursal ratio of conscionable 0.03% compared to 0.32% for ACWX. SPDW besides presently pays a higher dividend yield, which whitethorn entreaty to income-focused investors.

Metric

SPDW

ACWX

Max drawdown (5 y)	-30.23%	-30.03%
Growth of $1,000 implicit 5 years	$1,304	$1,251

ACWX holds 1,751 stocks and covers some developed and emerging non-U.S. markets, rebalancing vulnerability crossed fiscal services (25%), exertion (15%), and industrials (15%). Its apical holdings see Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (3.9%), ASML (1.53%), and Tencent Holdings (1.4%), with a money property of 17.8 years. This blend introduces further exertion and emerging marketplace vulnerability compared to developed-market-only funds, but whitethorn besides summation sensitivity to planetary marketplace shifts.

SPDW, by contrast, targets lone developed planetary markets, emphasizing fiscal services (23%), industrials (19%), and exertion (11%). Its largest positions are ASML (1.73%), Samsung (1.65%), and Roche (0.98%), resulting successful a somewhat much antiaircraft illustration and little vulnerability to emerging marketplace volatility. Both ETFs are wide successful scope, but SPDW’s absorption whitethorn suit investors seeking lower-cost entree to developed markets only.