HDV 30% · VYM 30% · SCHD 20% · SPYD 20% CAGR +11.5%
SPY CAGR +12.0%
Shaded: major market crises Bear Market (2022)
HDV + SCHD + SPYD + VYM
HDV 30% · VYM 30% · SCHD 20% · SPYD 20% · Dividend equity
5yr · 2021.10 – 2026.10 · $10,000 lump sum · monthly rebalancing · dividends reinvested · no taxes or fees · month-end
Final Balance $17,265
Invested $10,000
Gain +$7,265
SPY alone: $17,597
Annualized return +11.5%
0.4pp behind SPY
Max drawdown · month-end -14.9%
2 months from trough to recovery
SPY -23.9%
Loss after a 1-year hold 8%
4 of 49 past windows
None when held 3+ years
SPY 12%
Performance ⌄
Performance
Over 5 years it grew 1.7x; SPY grew 1.8x over the same period.
Calendar-year returns
Of 4 complete years: 0 with a loss, 1 ahead of SPY.
Show as a table
| Year | Selected allocation | SPY | In-year low |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | +10.0% | +17.7% | -6.2% |
| 2024 | +14.9% | +24.9% | -6.1% |
| 2023 | +4.3% | +26.2% | -9.6% |
| 2022 | +1.1% | -18.2% | -14.9% |
Depending on when you bought
Every month in the window taken as a start, held one, three or five years.
Observed windows overlap and are not independent samples. These shares are not probabilities of future gains.
Risk & recovery
The deepest fall was -14.9%, regained 2 months after the low. During the Bear Market (2022) it returned -12.2%, while SPY returned -19.7%.
Holdings
Every holding is in equities. Its dividend yield over the last 12 months was 3.0%; the results reinvest dividends.
- HDViShares Core High Dividend ETF 30%
- VYMVanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares 30%
An ETF investing in U.S. high-dividend equities.
- SCHDSchwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF 20%
A U.S. dividend equity ETF tracking the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index.
- SPYDState Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF 20%
Questions & methodology
What does the HDV + SCHD + SPYD + VYM portfolio hold?
iShares Core High Dividend ETF (HDV) Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares (VYM): An ETF investing in U.S. high-dividend equities. Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): A U.S. dividend equity ETF tracking the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index. State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF (SPYD)
What were the return and risk of the HDV + SCHD + SPYD + VYM portfolio?
From 2021.10 to 2026.10, the annualized return was +11.5% and the largest month-end drawdown was -14.9%. The Sharpe ratio (return for the risk) is 0.55.
How did it compare with holding SPY alone?
From 2021.10 to 2026.10, the annualized return was +11.5% for these weights and +12.0% for SPY. Over the same window the largest month-end drawdown was -14.9% for these weights and -23.9% for SPY.
How far did the HDV + SCHD + SPYD + VYM portfolio fall, and how long did it take to get back?
Over the selected 5 years, the largest month-end decline was -14.9%, from a high in 2022.05 to a low in 2022.09. It regained the old high 2 months after the low.
Are dividends, taxes and exchange rates included?
Dividends are reinvested and results are in USD. Taxes, currency moves against your home currency and trading fees are not included. These results use US-listed ETFs; Korea-listed ETFs such as KODEX and TIGER can be added in the backtest.
The server calculates portfolio examples and actual user allocations with the same period, starting balance and settings. Validated metrics and their supporting charts are shown together.
Price data through: 2026.10.30