AGG vs SDCP

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

SDCPCVirtus Newfleet Short Duration 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.

SDCP Newfleet keeps this one on a short leash: duration pinned to a 1 to 3 year band, investment-grade and liquid paper, income paid monthly. Total return with less of the rate whiplash a full aggregate portfolio carries.

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.

SDCP The Fund seeks high total return, including current income, while limiting fluctuations in net asset value. Its strategy maintains duration within a 1–3 year range and invests primarily in investment-grade, more liquid fixed-income 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.

• SDCP Duration is held to a 1 to 3 year band by mandate, so the portfolio takes far less interest-rate risk than a full aggregate bond fund.
• Active core-plus management across roughly 200 positions in investment-grade, more liquid sectors, with income paid out monthly.
• At 0.35% a year it lands near the middle of the broad bond ETF pack, which is not where actively run portfolios usually sit.

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.

• SDCP Index trackers like BND and SPAB charge 0.03%, so the active mandate here costs many times more than a plain aggregate tracker.
• Small and lightly traded beside the category's giants, which can show up as wider bid-ask spreads when you go to trade.
• Actively run, launched in late 2023: results ride on the team's sector and credit calls, with no index to measure them against.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full SDCP profile⁠