AGG vs TPLS

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

TPLSCThornburg 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.

TPLS Thornburg's 2025 debut in the crowded aggregate-bond aisle, and it refuses to stay in the aisle: an active core-plus mandate that can wander into emerging market bonds, bank loans and structured debt, paying monthly.

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.

TPLS The fund invests in a diversified portfolio of fixed-income instruments, including emerging market bonds, bank loans, and loan participants.

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.

• TPLS Core plus, and the plus is real: the mandate reaches past Treasuries and corporates into emerging market bonds, bank loans and loan participations.
• Pays income at least monthly, so coupons arrive on a steady rhythm rather than a quarterly lump.
• What it holds lines up closely with the wide-ranging mandate it advertises. No index-hugger wearing an active label.
• Plain 1940 Act fund structure: ordinary ETF plumbing, 1099 at tax time, no partnership paperwork.

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.

• TPLS The 0.45% fee is active-manager pricing in a category where index anchors like BND and SPAB charge 0.03%. The roaming mandate has to earn that gap.
• Small and thinly traded, which tends to mean wider bid-ask spreads than the giants of the aggregate-bond group.
• Launched in 2025, so the record is short. Thornburg also discloses that distributions can include return of capital, meaning part of a payout may be your own money back.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full TPLS profile⁠