VUAG vs VUKG, side by side
Unlike most fund face-offs on this site, these two are genuinely different investments. VUAG holds America's 500 biggest listed companies - heavy in technology. VUKG holds the UK's 100 biggest - heavy in banks, energy and consumer staples, with a higher dividend culture. Same provider, same accumulating wrapper; entirely different markets.
Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF (Acc)VUAG.L£108.24+22% 1Y
Vanguard FTSE 100 UCITS ETF (Acc)VUKG.L£56.13+21% 1YVUAG
The 500 largest companies listed in the United States (Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia and the rest), with dividends reinvested inside the fund.
VUKG
The 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, with dividends reinvested. Many earn most of their money overseas.
The numbers, side by side
| Measure | VUAG | VUKG |
|---|---|---|
| What it tracks | S&P 500 | FTSE 100 |
| OCF: Ongoing Charge Figure: the fund's yearly running cost, taken automatically. 0.22% is about £2.20 a year for every £1,000 you hold. | 0.07% | 0.09% |
| Acc / Dist: Accumulating (Acc) reinvests dividends inside the fund automatically; Distributing (Dist) pays them to you as cash. Same index either way. | Acc | Acc |
| Holdings: Roughly how many different investments the fund spreads your money across. More holdings usually means more diversification. | 500 | 100 |
| Domicile | Ireland | Ireland |
| Replication | Physical (holds the underlying shares) | Physical (holds the underlying shares) |
| Yield: The income the fund has paid out over the past year as a percentage of its price. Accumulating funds reinvest this for you instead of paying cash. | Reinvested inside the fund | Reinvested inside the fund |
| Price | £108.24 | £56.13 |
| 1Y: How much the share price has moved over the past year. | +22% | +21% |
How they differ
These are genuinely different investments: VUAG tracks S&P 500 while VUKG tracks FTSE 100 - the real question is region and mix, not the wrapper. Their 10 biggest holdings don't overlap at all - they hold different companies. The fees differ: VUKG charges 0.09% a year and VUAG charges 0.07%. On £10,000 growing at an illustrative 6.5% a year that gap compounds to roughly £130 over 20 years - purely from cost, and an illustration rather than a forecast.
Descriptive only - how the two compare on today's data, never a verdict on either.
VUAG, in one line
The 500 biggest American companies in one very low-cost package, with every dividend quietly reinvested for you.
Read the full VUAG explainer →VUKG, in one line
The 100 biggest names on the London market, wrapped into one holding, with your dividends quietly reinvested instead of paid out.
Read the full VUKG explainer →Common questions
Why has the S&P 500 grown faster in recent years?
Mostly composition: it is packed with the world's largest technology companies, which led the last decade. That is history, not a law of nature - different decades have crowned different markets, and past growth is no guarantee.
Is holding both double-counting?
Barely - the overlap is tiny, since one holds US companies and the other UK ones. Many people hold a world fund instead, which contains both in one wrapper at market weights.