BKAG vs TPFI

BKAGABNY Mellon Core Bond ETF

TPFIDTimothy Plan Fixed Income ETF

In short

BKAG A core bond index fund that charges nothing. BKAG tracks the same Bloomberg US Aggregate benchmark the giants track, at a 0.00% expense ratio, and has been doing it since 2020.

TPFI Timothy Plan spent years screening stocks against biblical criteria. In 2026 it pointed that lens at bonds: an income-focused fixed income fund for investors who want their debt sleeve run by the same rulebook as their stocks.

Stated mandate

BKAG The fund seeks to track the Bloomberg US Aggregate Total Return Index.

TPFI The Fund seeks high current income while limiting undue risk to principal.

Why people hold it

• BKAG A 0.00% expense ratio. The median fund in the core bond group charges 0.36%, and even the cheap giants (BND, SPAB, SCHZ) charge 0.03%.
• Tracks the Bloomberg US Aggregate Total Return Index tightly, one of the closest index-following records in its peer group.
• Broad by design: roughly 4,000 bonds in the portfolio, with distributions paid monthly rather than quarterly.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund from BNY Mellon, wrapped in a standard 1940 Act ETF structure with no exotic mechanics.

• TPFI The bond leg of a biblically screened lineup. Timothy Plan's equity ETFs date back to 2019; this one extends the same values-first approach to debt.timothyplan.com
• Plain mandate: at least 80% of assets in debt securities, aiming for high current income while limiting undue risk to principal.
• Fills the fixed income slot in a family that was all equity until 2026: large cap, small cap, international and high dividend funds.timothyplan.com

Worth knowing

• BKAG Rate risk is the trade-off. This is full-market bond exposure, and bond prices move opposite interest rates. Volatility is the weakest part of its profile.
• Moderately traded, not one of the volume monsters in the category. Spreads and limit orders matter more here than with the largest core bond names.
• At zero, the fee edge over 0.03% rivals is real but small in dollar terms, so tracking and trading costs do more of the work.

• TPFI At 0.55% a year, it costs well above plain index aggregate bond funds such as BND, SPAB and SCHZ at 0.03%. Screening and hands-on management carry a price.
• A 2026 launch, so the track record is short and it trades in a fraction of the volume of the index bond giants, which can widen bid-ask spreads.
• Income lands on an annual or semiannual schedule rather than the monthly cadence many bond funds use.

Full BKAG profile⁠

Full TPFI profile⁠