AGGM vs SCHZ

AGGMAiShares 1-10 Year U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

SCHZASchwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

AGGM Government and credit, nothing else: GBF holds Treasuries and investment-grade corporate bonds across the maturity spectrum, tracking a Bloomberg index since 2007 for 0.20% a year.

SCHZ Schwab's core bond holding: the broad U.S. investment-grade bond market, over 10,000 issues deep, for 0.03% a year. That is the floor of a category whose median fee is more than ten times higher. Running since 2011, pays monthly.

Stated mandate

AGGM The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. dollar-denominated government and investment-grade corporate bonds, providing diversified fixed-income exposure across sectors and maturities.

SCHZ The fund seeks to track the total return of an index representing the broad U.S. investment-grade bond market.

Why people hold it

• AGGM A 0.20% fee, below the typical core bond ETF in its category.
• Tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Government/Credit Bond Index tightly, one of the cleanest index implementations in a crowded core-bond field.
• Pays monthly, so income arrives on a steady cadence rather than quarterly.
• Live since 2007 under the iShares roof, with a full market cycle of history behind the mandate.

• SCHZ 0.03% a year sits at the category floor, against a cohort median of 0.36%. Only a short list of aggregate-bond funds matches it, including AGG, BND and SPAB.
• Tracks the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index tightly, one of the cleanest index implementations among the 187 funds in its peer group.schwabassetmanagement.com
• One ticker, thousands of investment-grade U.S. bonds, income paid monthly. The plumbing of a bond portfolio without buying a single bond yourself.
• Live since 2011 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so trading costs on ordinary retail-sized orders tend to be minor.

Worth knowing

• AGGM It trades lightly next to the category's giants. Limit orders matter more here than with the household-name bond funds.
• Broad total-bond rivals undercut it on fee: BND, SPAB and SCHZ each run 0.03%, though their indexes also include securitized debt.
• Rate risk is the main lever. The index spans sectors and maturities, so prices move inversely to yields, and longer bonds move most.

• SCHZ This is duration exposure, not a cash substitute. Interest-rate moves, not credit selection, drive most of the ride, and that is the weakest part of its risk profile.
• Investment grade and U.S. only: no high-yield, no foreign bonds. Funds like BNDX cover the international side of the cohort.
• The aggregate-bond aisle is commoditized. Against AGG, BND and SPAB at the same 0.03%, the differences come down to index variant and where you already custody, not fee.

Full AGGM profile⁠

Full SCHZ profile⁠