CRDT vs SCHZ

CRDTFSimplify Opportunistic Income ETF

SCHZASchwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

CRDT Not an index bond fund. CRDT roams high yield, investment grade and distressed debt hunting income, run by an alternatives shop that also handles the hedging, and it pays monthly.

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

CRDT CRDT seeks current income as its primary objective, with long-term capital appreciation as a secondary objective.

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

• CRDT Active across the credit spectrum: investment grade and high yield corporate bonds, preferred stock, Treasuries and bank loans, chosen by bottom-up research instead of an index.simplify.us
• Sub-advised by Asterozoa Capital, an alternatives manager responsible for both fixed income security selection and the fund's derivatives strategy.simplify.ussimplify.us 2
• The prospectus puts guardrails on the racy stuff: up to 15% in illiquid holdings such as distressed or private investments, and no more than 10% rated CCC or lower.simplify.us
• Pays monthly, with current income as the stated primary objective and long-term capital appreciation second.

• 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

• CRDT The 0.99% expense ratio is alternatives-manager pricing next to index core bond funds like BND at 0.03%. Active credit selection has to cover that gap.
• Small and thinly traded, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the giant core bond ETFs. Limit orders matter more here.
• Junk and distressed debt move more like stocks than Treasuries when credit sours, and the fund currently sits in the bottom quartile of our aggregate-bond group.simplify.us

• 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 CRDT profile⁠

Full SCHZ profile⁠