BIV vs IUSB

BIVAVanguard Intermediate-Term Bond ETF

IUSBAiShares Core Universal USD Bond ETF

In short

BIV Most bond funds hand you the entire market. BIV picks a lane: investment-grade U.S. government and corporate bonds in the 5-to-10-year band, sampled by Vanguard, priced at three basis points.

IUSB Most core bond funds stop at investment grade. IUSB keeps going, folding high-yield USD debt into the same wrapper across roughly 18,000 bonds, for 0.06% a year.

Stated mandate

BIV The fund seeks to track a market-weighted bond index representing the intermediate-term investment-grade U.S. bond market. It uses index sampling and normally invests at least 80% of assets in securities represented by the index.

IUSB The Fund seeks to track an index of U.S.-dollar-denominated bonds spanning investment-grade and high-yield sectors.

Why people hold it

• BIV 0.03% a year against a category median around 0.36%. In bonds, where returns are mostly coupon math, cost is one of the few levers you fully control.
• You pick the maturity band instead of inheriting it. The benchmark is a 5-10 year government/credit index: no mortgage pools, no 30-year tail dragging the duration around.vanguard.com
• Running since 2007 and among the closest index trackers in its peer group, with the trading depth that comes from a multi-billion-dollar asset base.
• Pays income monthly and spreads it across roughly 300 investment-grade bonds, so no single issuer carries the paycheck.

• IUSB 0.06% a year, a fraction of what the typical broad bond fund in its category charges, and iShares has run it since 2014.
• Roughly 18,000 bonds spanning investment-grade and high-yield sectors, so one ticker covers ground a plain Agg tracker leaves on the table.ishares.com
• Tracks its index closely, trades heavily, and sits on a multi-billion-dollar asset base. Income is paid monthly.
• Among the strongest implementations in a crowded field of nearly 200 core bond funds.

Worth knowing

• BIV Intermediate duration cuts both ways. A 5-10 year portfolio reprices harder when yields move than a short-term fund does. Rate sensitivity is the main risk you are taking here.
• This is a slice, not the whole bond market. Aggregate funds at the same 0.03% (BND, SPAB, SCHZ) also carry mortgage-backed and short and long maturities that BIV leaves out.
• Investment-grade only, U.S. only. No high-yield sleeve and no foreign bonds, which is the point of the design but caps what the income stream can come from.

• IUSB That high-yield sleeve is the trade-off: more credit risk than an investment-grade-only fund, and more movement when spreads widen.
• BND, SPAB and SCHZ charge 0.03%, half IUSB's fee, but they stay inside investment grade.
• Payouts land monthly, but the amount floats with the coupons underneath. Nothing about the income stream is fixed.

Full BIV profile⁠

Full IUSB profile⁠