Stop Settling for VOO! The Top 3 Charles Schwab ETFs Outperforming the S&P 500

Everyone talks about VOO like it's the holy grail of investing, and look, I get it. Vanguard has been around forever. The S&P 500 is safe. And your financial advisor probably told you to just buy it and forget about it. But here's the uncomfortable truth nobody wants to admit. Safe often means you're leaving serious money on the table. While the masses are piling into VOO because it's what everyone else is doing, a quiet group of smarter investors has been using Charles Schwab ETFs to absolutely crush the market. I'm talking about the kind of outperformance that turns a comfortable retirement into an early retirement. In this video, I'm breaking down the three Schwab ETFs that have beaten the S&P 500 at its own game. We're talking about a growth monster that turned $10,000 into $59,000. A dividend powerhouse paying you three to four times more income than VOO. And a total market fund that beat the S&P 500 while charging the exact same fee. Whether you're 25 and building wealth, or 55 and planning retirement, these numbers are going to change how you think about index investing. No fluff, just the tickers, the math, and the strategy. Let's start with the one that's turned growth investors into millionaires. Let's be real for a second. If you're 30 years old with three decades until retirement, do you really want to settle for 14% annual returns when you could be getting 19%? That might not sound like a huge difference, but let me show you the math that'll blow your mind. Meet SCHG, the Schwab US Large Cap Growth ETF. Ticker SCHG. This fund has one job. Own the biggest, fastest growing companies in America and let them run. We're talking Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, and Alphabet. The same mega cap tech giants everyone's obsessed with. But here's the twist. Schwab charges just 0.04% per year. Essentially the same rock-bottom fee as VOO at 0.03%. We're talking one basis point difference, which on a $10,000 investment is literally $1 per year. You're getting pure growth exposure for basically free. Now here's where it gets interesting. Over the last five years, SCHG has returned 19.2% annually. VOO, 14.7%. Let's put real money on this. If you invested $10,000 in VOO 10 years ago, you'd have around $40,000 today. Solid, right? But that same $10,000 in SCHG would be sitting at $59,000. That's an extra $19,000 for doing absolutely nothing different except choosing a different ticker symbol. In 2024 alone, SCHG returned 34.95%. And using the rule of 72 at a 19.2% annual return, your money doubles every 3.75 years. If you're under 45 and have time on your side, this is the engine that gets you to financial freedom early. Now, I know what you're thinking. What about dividends? SCHG pays a tiny 0.39% yield because growth companies reinvest their profits into expansion, not payouts. But here's what most people don't understand about growth stocks and dividends. You don't want dividends when you're young. You want capital appreciation. You want that stock price climbing year after year. Warren Buffett said it best. The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient. But SCHG is incredible for growth. So what happens when you hit 55 and actually need income to pay the bills? Here's the problem with VOO that nobody talks about. It pays a 1.1% dividend yield. You invest $100,000 and you're getting $1,100 a year. That barely covers your cell phone bill. And when you retire, you can't live on 1.1% unless you're planning to eat ramen for the rest of your life. Most investors panic and start chasing high-yield ETFs that promise 6%, 8%, even 10% yields. But here's the trap. Those funds are loaded with dying companies that are desperate to keep shareholders around. High yield often means high risk. Enter SCHD, the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF. This is the fund that separates the amateurs from the professionals. SCHD doesn't just buy any dividend stock. It tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index, which has one brutal requirement. Companies must have paid dividends for at least 10 consecutive years. No exceptions. This quality filter means you're owning Coca-Cola, Verizon, Lockheed Martin, and ConocoPhillips. Companies that have been paying shareholders through recessions, pandemics, and market crashes. The current dividend yield between 3.67% and 4.12%. That's three to four times higher than the S&P 500. Let's do the math. You invest $10,000 into SCHD, and you're collecting between $367 and $412 every single year in dividends. That's real cash hitting your account every quarter. And over 10 years, even with a more conservative 12.55% annual return, that $10,000 grows to $32,500, and you've been collecting checks the entire time. But here's the kicker most investors miss. Tax efficiency. These are qualified dividends, which means if you hold SCHD in a taxable account, you're paying just 15% to 20% in taxes, not the 22% to 37% you'd pay on your salary. You keep more of what you earn. For my viewers over 55, this is your retirement paycheck machine. You're not selling shares to pay for groceries. You're collecting dividends and letting the portfolio grow. Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's partner, put it perfectly. The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting. Stick with me, because the third ETF is the one nobody talks about, but it's quietly beating VOO with less risk. Here's what frustrates me about VOO. It only owns the top 500 companies in America. You're missing out on the next 2,000 stocks that could be tomorrow's Apple or Amazon. It's like showing up to a battle with only the generals and leaving the soldiers at home. That's where SCHB comes in, the Schwab U.S. Broad Market ETF. This fund owns 2,500 companies, large caps, mid caps, small caps, the entire American economy in one ticker. And the best part, the expense ratio is 0.03%, the exact same price as VOO. Now check this out. Over the last 10 years, SCHB has returned 15.07% annually compared to VOO's 14.78%. You're beating the S&P 500 for the same cost. If you invested $10,000 in SCHB 10 years ago, you'd have $40,450 today versus VOO's $39,300. That's an extra $1,150. And this is with 2,500 stocks, giving you better diversification. Over 20 or 30 years, that gap widens significantly. SCHB also pays a dividend yield between 1.09% and 1.24%, slightly better than VOO, with a five-year dividend growth rate of 3.34%. It's not trying to be a growth monster like SCHG or an income powerhouse like SCHD. It's the steady, diversified core holding that gives you exposure to the full market. When big tech takes a hit, your mid-caps and small caps can carry the weight. When small caps struggle, your large caps hold the line. Owning 2,500 stocks means less concentration risk and more balance. As Peter Lynch said, know what you own and know why you own it. With SCHB, you own America. So here's how you actually use these three together. The strategy is simple, but it's based on where you are in life. If you're between 20 and 35, go heavy on SCHG, 70% growth, 20% SCHB for diversification, and just 10% SCHD because you don't need income yet. You need your money to multiply. Ages 35 to 50, balance it out. 50% SCHG, 30% SCHB, and 20% SCHD. You're building wealth while starting to think about income. Hitting 50 to 60, shift the focus. 30% SCHG, 30% SCHB, and 40% SCHD. You're protecting gains and generating cash flow. And if you're over 60, flip the script. 60% SCHD for reliable income, 20% SCHB for stability, and 20% SCHG to fight inflation. You can't afford another 30% tech crash when you're living off your portfolio. Here's the truth nobody wants to say out loud. VOO isn't bad, it's just not the best. And in investing, good enough is the enemy of wealthy. The difference between 14% and 19% over 30 years. That's the difference between retiring at 65 and retiring at 55. If this opened your eyes, smash that like button. Subscribe so you never miss these strategies. And watch the video on your screen where I break down Schwab versus Fidelity head to head. You need to see which actually makes you the most money. Stop settling. Start building real wealth.