AGG vs DYNB

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

DYNBCHartford Dynamic 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.

DYNB Measured against the US Aggregate index, but it does not live there. Wellington rotates DYNB across government, investment-grade, high-yield and emerging-market debt, with no index to hug and no permanent home base.

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.

DYNB The Fund seeks long-term total return; an earlier SEC objective statement also identifies income as a secondary objective.

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.

• DYNB Go-anywhere by design: the mandate covers domestic and foreign bonds, investment grade and junk, so the manager can move toward where the yield is instead of holding what a benchmark dictates.hartfordfunds.com
• Not starting from a blank sheet. Wellington Management sub-advises, and Hartford's same-named Dynamic Bond mutual fund, a multi-billion-dollar strategy running since 2022, shares the lead portfolio manager.hartfordfunds.comhartfordfunds.com 2
• The portfolio matches the prospectus: roughly 200 bonds spread across sectors and credit tiers, with no hidden style drift to decode. Income is paid monthly.hartfordfunds.com

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.

• DYNB Active costs more: 0.60% net of a waiver through November 30, 2026 (0.70% gross), above the category median, next to 0.03% at index trackers like AGG and BND.
• Launched in September 2025, so the live record is short and the asset base is small. Most of the evidence on this strategy sits with its older mutual fund cousin.hartfordfunds.com
• Trading is thin compared with the category's index giants, so the spread you cross can matter more than the expense ratio.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full DYNB profile⁠