BLV vs SCHZ

BLVAVanguard Long-Term Bond ETF

SCHZASchwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

BLV Most bond ETFs spread across every maturity. BLV camps at the long end, tracking an index of long-dated Treasuries and investment-grade corporates for 0.03% a year. Maximum interest-rate sensitivity, minimum price tag.

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

BLV The fund seeks to track a market-weighted index of long-term, dollar-denominated bonds through an indexing approach. It invests at least 80% of assets in securities represented by the target index and uses sampling.

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

• BLV Costs 0.03% a year against a 0.36% median for its bond peer group. In indexed bonds, where everyone owns roughly the same paper, the fee gap is most of the difference.
• Not a Treasuries-only long bond fund. The Bloomberg U.S. Long Government/Credit Float Adjusted Index blends long government bonds with investment-grade corporate credit.
• Running since 2007 and now a multibillion-dollar fund that trades actively, so entering and exiting rarely means paying up on the spread.
• Pays monthly, and sits inside Vanguard's index bond lineup alongside BND, one of the strongest cost profiles in a 187-fund field.

• 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

• BLV Long maturities are the point, and they cut both ways: prices move sharply when long-term rates move. This is the twitchiest corner of the investment-grade bond market.
• The corporate side brings credit risk that a Treasury-only long fund does not carry.
• Vanguard samples the index rather than owning every bond in it, holding roughly 170 issues, so returns can diverge slightly from the benchmark.

• 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 BLV profile⁠

Full SCHZ profile⁠