The FTSE 100 vs the FTSE 250, side by side
Both are UK indices, and that is roughly where the similarity ends. The FTSE 100 holds the hundred largest companies listed in London: miners, oil majors, banks and drug companies, most of which earn the bulk of their money outside Britain and often in dollars. The FTSE 250 holds the next 250 down, which are far more likely to earn their money from the UK economy itself. So the FTSE 100 tends to move with the world and with the pound, while the FTSE 250 tracks more closely how the UK itself is doing.
Vanguard FTSE 100 UCITS ETF (Dist)VUKE.L£47.31+22% 1Y
Vanguard FTSE 250 UCITS ETF (Dist)VMID.L£37.91+18% 1YVanguard FTSE 100
Holds the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange and pays the dividends out as cash.
Vanguard FTSE 250
The next 250 UK companies below the FTSE 100 - more domestically focused medium-sized businesses, historically more UK-economy-sensitive.
The numbers, side by side
| Measure | Vanguard FTSE 100 | Vanguard FTSE 250 |
|---|---|---|
| What it tracks | FTSE 100 | FTSE 250 |
| 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. | 0.09% | 0.1% |
| Acc / Dist: Accumulating (Acc) reinvests dividends inside the fund automatically; Distributing (Dist) pays them to you as cash. Same index either way. | Dist | Dist |
| Holdings: Roughly how many different investments the fund spreads your money across. More holdings usually means more diversification. | ~100 largest UK-listed companies | 250 |
| 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. | 3.1% | 3.4% |
| Price | £47.31 | £37.91 |
| 1Y: How much the share price has moved over the past year. | +22% | +18% |
How they differ
These are genuinely different investments: Vanguard FTSE 100 tracks FTSE 100 while Vanguard FTSE 250 tracks FTSE 250 - the real question is region and mix, not the wrapper. Their ten biggest holdings don't overlap at all - they hold different companies. The fees differ: Vanguard FTSE 250 charges 0.1% a year and Vanguard FTSE 100 charges 0.09%. On £10,000 growing at an illustrative 6.5% a year that gap compounds to roughly £65 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.
Vanguard FTSE 100, in one line
A single fund giving you a front-row seat to the 100 biggest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Read the full Vanguard FTSE 100 explainer →Vanguard FTSE 250, in one line
The next 250 UK companies sitting just below the FTSE 100: smaller, more homegrown, and a bumpier ride, with the income paid as cash.
Read the full Vanguard FTSE 250 explainer →Common questions
Is the FTSE 100 really a UK investment?
It is listed in the UK, but most of its earnings are not. Its largest members are miners, energy and pharmaceutical groups that earn worldwide, so a large share of the index's revenue arrives in foreign currency. That is why a weaker pound often lifts the FTSE 100 while doing much less for a genuinely UK-focused fund.
Does holding both mean owning some companies twice?
No. The two indices do not overlap - a company sits in one or the other, and companies move between them as their size changes at each quarterly review. Together they make up the FTSE 350, so holding both covers the 350 largest London-listed companies with no double counting.