AGG vs BLV

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

BLVAVanguard Long-Term 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.

BLV Most bond ETFs spread across every maturity. BLV camps at the long end, tracking an index of long-dated Treasuries and investment-grade corporates for 0.03% a year. Maximum interest-rate sensitivity, minimum price tag.

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.

BLV The fund seeks to track a market-weighted index of long-term, dollar-denominated bonds through an indexing approach. It invests at least 80% of assets in securities represented by the target index and uses sampling.

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.

• BLV Costs 0.03% a year against a 0.36% median for its bond peer group. In indexed bonds, where everyone owns roughly the same paper, the fee gap is most of the difference.
• Not a Treasuries-only long bond fund. The Bloomberg U.S. Long Government/Credit Float Adjusted Index blends long government bonds with investment-grade corporate credit.
• Running since 2007 and now a multibillion-dollar fund that trades actively, so entering and exiting rarely means paying up on the spread.
• Pays monthly, and sits inside Vanguard's index bond lineup alongside BND, one of the strongest cost profiles in a 187-fund field.

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.

• BLV Long maturities are the point, and they cut both ways: prices move sharply when long-term rates move. This is the twitchiest corner of the investment-grade bond market.
• The corporate side brings credit risk that a Treasury-only long fund does not carry.
• Vanguard samples the index rather than owning every bond in it, holding roughly 170 issues, so returns can diverge slightly from the benchmark.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full BLV profile⁠