DUSB vs TBLL

DUSBADimensional Ultrashort Fixed Income ETF

TBLLAInvesco Short Term Treasury ETF

In short

DUSB Most of this category just buys T-bills. Dimensional's ultrashort fund is the active one: corporates, bank paper and foreign dollar bonds, 0.14% net of a waiver through February 28, 2027.

TBLL The bill fund that stretches to a full year. TBLL owns U.S. Treasuries maturing in one year or less and charges 0.08%, well under the typical fund in its 0-1 year Treasury group.

Stated mandate

DUSB The fund seeks to maximize total returns, consisting of income and capital appreciation. It generally invests in investment-grade fixed-income securities, usually maturing within one year, while maintaining a weighted average maturity of no more than one year.

TBLL The fund invests primarily in U.S. Treasury obligations with maturities of one year or less and seeks exposure to the ICE U.S. Treasury Short Bond Index.

Why people hold it

• DUSB The prospectus lets it lean into longer-dated paper when the term premium looks bigger, and stay short when it doesn't, with weighted average maturity capped at one year.sec.gov
• Wider menu than a bill fund: Treasuries, agencies, corporates, commercial paper, bank obligations and dollar bonds of foreign issuers. Roughly 400 positions, paid out monthly.sec.gov
• Fee sits near the category median at 0.14%, net of a waiver through February 28, 2027 (0.15% gross), and it is one of the stronger mandate implementations in the group.

• TBLL Charges 0.08% a year against a 0.14% median for its 0-1 year Treasury cohort, and undercuts BIL, the 1-3 month bill fund at 0.14%.
• Fishes the entire under-one-year curve, about 90 Treasury positions, instead of camping in 1-3 month paper like much of the peer shelf.
• Live since 2017 and a multi-billion-dollar fund, with index tracking among the tighter implementations in its 17-fund group.
• Distributions land monthly, and the portfolio is Treasury obligations only, so no corporate credit rides along.

Worth knowing

• DUSB Credit risk is the trade-off. Corporate and bank paper can widen in a stress episode in ways pure T-bill funds like VBIL and CLIP don't.sec.gov
• Costs more than the index bill crowd: 0.14% net of a waiver through February 28, 2027 against 0.06% for VBIL and 0.07% for CLIP. The active work has to earn that gap.
• Moderately traded and a 2023 launch, so it is younger and less busy than the category's biggest names.

• TBLL Not the cheapest seat in the row: XONE runs 0.03% and VBIL 0.06%, so the cost gap is a few basis points.
• Reaching out to one-year maturities carries slightly more interest-rate sensitivity than a strict 1-3 month bill portfolio.
• Moderately traded rather than the volume leader of its category, so spreads deserve a look on larger orders.

Full DUSB profile⁠

Full TBLL profile⁠