AGG vs CGIB

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

CGIBCCapital Group International Bond ETF (USD-Hedged)

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.

CGIB Capital Group's active bond desk pointed overseas, with the currency layer hedged back to dollars. You get foreign bond selection without the euro and yen steering the outcome.

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.

CGIB The fund seeks a high level of current income while preserving capital, primarily through investments in bonds and other debt securities.

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.

• CGIB USD-hedged by design, so results ride on the bonds the managers pick rather than which way the dollar moves that quarter.
• Actively managed, not an index clone: under normal conditions at least 40% of assets sit outside the US, easing to 30% when the adviser reads conditions as unfavorable.
• The mandate is plain: high current income while preserving capital, run through bonds and other debt securities across roughly 200 positions.
• Pays monthly, so the income lands on a twelve-times-a-year rhythm instead of quarterly.

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.

• CGIB 0.45% a year is above the typical core bond fund, and the index heavyweights it shares a shelf with (BND at 0.03%, BNDX at 0.07%) charge a sliver of that.
• Launched in 2024, so the track record is short next to the decades-old core bond funds in its peer group, and it currently sits in the lower reaches of that group on our review.
• Hedging cuts both ways: it damps currency swings, which also means a weakening dollar won't add the lift an unhedged foreign bond fund can pick up.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full CGIB profile⁠