AGG vs GTOS

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

GTOSBInvesco Short Duration Total Return 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.

GTOS Invesco's active take on short bonds: maturity and duration held between one and three years, with room to reach into high yield for income. The fee is 0.30% net of a waiver through August 31, 2027, near the category norm.

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.

GTOS The Fund seeks total return from income and capital appreciation. It invests at least 80% of net assets in fixed income securities, including high yield bonds, and aims for portfolio maturity and duration between one and three years.

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.

• GTOS The mandate pins portfolio maturity and duration between one and three years, a shorter leash on interest-rate sensitivity than a full aggregate-bond fund carries.invesco.com
• No index to hug. The managers can own investment grade and high yield paper, spread across roughly 800 positions, and income is paid monthly.invesco.com
• At 0.30% net of a waiver through August 31, 2027 (0.31% gross), the fee lands near the category median, restrained for a bond fund with a human at the wheel.

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.

• GTOS The index aggregates play a different cost game: AGG, BND and SCHZ each charge 0.03% against this fund's 0.30% net (waiver through August 31, 2027).
• High yield is written into the mandate, so part of the income carries credit risk. Short duration trims rate sensitivity, not the chance a borrower stumbles.invesco.com
• It trades lightly next to the category's index heavyweights and assets are modest, so spreads can widen and limit orders earn their keep.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full GTOS profile⁠