EDGF vs SCHZ

EDGFD3EDGE Dynamic Fixed Income ETF

SCHZASchwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

EDGF A bond fund built to move. 3EDGE's macro model shifts the mix across Treasuries, TIPS, investment grade and high yield, using other bond ETFs as building blocks. Flexibility priced at 0.79%, with no fee waiver in the mix.

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

EDGF The Fund seeks high current income. It dynamically invests across multiple fixed-income sectors through selected ETFs, with allocations adjusted using a quantitative and dual-momentum process.

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

• EDGF Go-anywhere mandate: at least 80% in bonds, with credit quality and duration actively dialed up or down rather than pinned to an index.sec.gov
• Runs as a fund of funds, so the holdings are liquid, published bond ETFs picked on index, credit quality and duration, not an opaque bond sleeve.sec.gov
• The 0.79% fee is the real fee: net equals gross, with no waiver propping it up and no step-up risk when one lapses.
• Seeks current income and pays quarterly.

• 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

• EDGF Cost is the hurdle: 0.79% against AGG, BND, SPAB and SCHZ at 0.03%, and above the category median fee.
• Allocations shift with the model, so results can look nothing like a plain Agg tracker in either direction.sec.gov
• Young fund, launched in October 2024, so there is little history across different rate environments.

• 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 EDGF profile⁠

Full SCHZ profile⁠