BUFG vs IVVM

BUFGDFT Vest Buffered Allocation Growth ETF

IVVMBiShares Large Cap Moderate Quarterly Laddered ETF

In short

BUFG One ticket instead of a calendar. BUFG holds a basket of buffered ETFs, each tied to the price return of a big S&P 500 fund up to a cap with a defined cushion against losses, so you skip picking an outcome month yourself.

IVVM Most buffer funds make you pick a start date. IVVM runs overlapping three-month tranches on IVV, each cushioning roughly the first 5% of losses in exchange for a cap, so no single reset date decides everything.

Stated mandate

BUFG The Fund seeks capital appreciation by investing in ETFs designed to provide returns based on SPY’s price return up to a predetermined cap, with a defined buffer against SPY losses over a one-year period.

IVVM The fund seeks exposure to large-cap U.S. equities while using staggered-maturity buffers to protect approximately the first 5% of losses. It accepts limited upside and uses the laddered structure to reduce timing risk.

Why people hold it

• BUFG A fund of buffer funds: one holding spreads you across several defined-outcome ETFs at once, instead of betting everything on a single start date.ftportfolios.com
• The mechanism is the point: equity exposure to a large S&P 500 fund's price move, with a stated buffer against its losses over a one-year period.
• Cheaper than the other fund built on the same reference: 1.13% a year versus BUFT's 1.21%.
• Running since 2021, with a few hundred million dollars behind it, from an issuer with one of the deepest buffered-ETF lineups.

• IVVM 0.50% net of a waiver through June 30, 2028 (0.53% gross), below the category median and well under Innovator's laddered Power Buffer fund BUFF at 0.89%.ishares.com
• Staggered tranches of roughly three-month FLEX options, rolling on a rhythm, spread out the entry-point risk that single-period buffer funds carry.ishares.com
• Born in 2023 as a plain quarterly buffer fund, rebuilt as a ladder in October 2025, and one of the stronger builds in its laddered-buffer peer group.sec.gov
• The reference asset is BlackRock's own S&P 500 workhorse, IVV, inside a standard 1940 Act ETF wrapper that trades all day on an exchange.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• BUFG You pay for the packaging: 1.13% a year, above the roughly 0.79% median in its buffer-fund peer group and above laddered sibling BUFR at 0.95%.
• Buffers come with caps. Upside is limited by design, and the buffer and cap apply across a full outcome period, so mid-period buyers get different terms.ftportfolios.com
• Thinly traded next to the largest buffer ETFs, so bid-ask spreads can be wider. The mandate targets capital appreciation, not income, and it has not been paying distributions.

• IVVM Each tranche caps the upside, and caps are reset at every roll, so a hot S&P 500 stretch leaves the fund behind plain index exposure.ishares.com
• The cushion is thin by design: approximately the first 5% of losses per tranche, with declines past that borne in full, and fund fees come off the top.sec.gov
• Exposure follows IVV's share price, not its dividends, and the fund trades thinly on a modest asset base, so spreads can run wider than on index giants.sec.gov

Full BUFG profile⁠

Full IVVM profile⁠