AGG vs OACP

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

OACPCOneAscent Core Plus 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.

OACP OneAscent's values screens set the eligible universe; an outside institutional bond team builds the portfolio from what clears. Actively managed, pays monthly, and free to roam past the Agg into high yield, non-US dollar and emerging market debt.

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.

OACP The Fund seeks total return, emphasizing income while applying values-based and impact criteria. Its strategy invests primarily in a broad range of fixed-income securities and may use relative-value trading and fixed-income derivatives.

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.

• OACP The screening is a gate, not a garnish: the adviser buys a bond only if it clears both the investment case and the values-based criteria.oneascent.com
• "Core plus" is literal here. Treasuries, corporates and securitized debt form the base, with room for below-investment-grade, non-US dollar and emerging market bonds.oneascent.com
• Day-to-day security selection is outsourced to a sub-adviser picked for scale, sector depth and embedded risk controls; OneAscent's launch materials tie the fund to Nuveen.oneascent.comoneascent.com 2
• The values mandate shows up in the portfolio itself, not just the brochure: holdings line up closely with the income-plus-impact strategy the fund advertises.

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.

• OACP Screening plus active management costs money. The fee sits well above the core-bond ETF median and is a multiple of index staples like BND, SPAB and SCHZ.oneascent.com
• By design the screens shrink the opportunity set. The issuer says results may differ from decisions made on investment merit alone, so expect divergence from a plain Agg fund.oneascent.com
• Small by core-bond standards and only moderately traded, so spreads can run wider than the mega index trackers, especially on large or rushed orders.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full OACP profile⁠