AGG vs TABD

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

TABDCTransamerica Bond Active 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.

TABD Transamerica's first move into ETFs: an actively run core bond portfolio steered by Aegon's fixed income desk, aiming for total return from income plus price gains, at 0.39% a year.

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.

TABD The Fund seeks total return from current income and capital appreciation.

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.

• TABD Active bond management for 0.39% a year, only a few basis points above the median fee in a cohort dominated by cheap index trackers.
• Run by Aegon Asset Management, Transamerica's affiliated bond shop, and launched December 2025 as one of the firm's first two active ETFs.prnewswire.comtransamerica.com
• Clear mandate: total return from current income and capital appreciation, principally through bonds and bond-like derivatives. No index to track.

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.

• TABD Index heavyweights BND, SPAB and SCHZ charge 0.03%. Here you pay roughly ten times that for a manager's discretion.
• Launched in December 2025, so there is no long record to judge. Results ride on the subadviser's calls, not an index.
• Small and lightly traded next to the category's giants, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than on the mega funds.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full TABD profile⁠