AGG vs AGGM

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

AGGMAiShares 1-10 Year U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

AGG Launched in 2003, one of the first funds to pack the entire U.S. investment-grade bond market into a single ticker: Treasuries, corporates and mortgage bonds, three basis points a year, cash paid monthly.

AGGM Government and credit, nothing else: GBF holds Treasuries and investment-grade corporate bonds across the maturity spectrum, tracking a Bloomberg index since 2007 for 0.20% a year.

Stated mandate

AGG The fund seeks to track the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, providing broad exposure to the total U.S. investment-grade bond market.

AGGM The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. dollar-denominated government and investment-grade corporate bonds, providing diversified fixed-income exposure across sectors and maturities.

Why people hold it

• AGG 0.03% a year against a peer-group median near 0.36%. On a bond fund, the fee comes straight out of the coupon, so the gap matters more than it looks.
• A $100 billion-plus fund and very actively traded, the kind of depth that keeps bid-ask costs down for retail-sized orders.
• Tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate closely, with one of the tightest index-following records in its peer group. Income is distributed monthly.
• Running since 2003, giving it one of the longest track records among U.S. bond index ETFs.

• AGGM A 0.20% fee, below the typical core bond ETF in its category.
• Tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Government/Credit Bond Index tightly, one of the cleanest index implementations in a crowded core-bond field.
• Pays monthly, so income arrives on a steady cadence rather than quarterly.
• Live since 2007 under the iShares roof, with a full market cycle of history behind the mandate.

Worth knowing

• AGG Investment grade and U.S. dollar only. High-yield debt and foreign bonds sit outside the mandate, so this is designed as core ballast rather than a yield hunt.
• Rate risk comes as it comes. The index gets tracked whether yields rise or fall, with no manager stepping in to shorten duration.
• The same index is sold by SPAB, SCHZ and BBAG at the same 0.03%. The portfolio is the commodity here; scale and trading depth are the tiebreakers.

• AGGM It trades lightly next to the category's giants. Limit orders matter more here than with the household-name bond funds.
• Broad total-bond rivals undercut it on fee: BND, SPAB and SCHZ each run 0.03%, though their indexes also include securitized debt.
• Rate risk is the main lever. The index spans sectors and maturities, so prices move inversely to yields, and longer bonds move most.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full AGGM profile⁠