ESBG vs IRTR: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

First Trust Enhanced Stocks, Bonds & Gold ETF

ESBGFNYSE Arca

iShares LifePath Retirement ETF

IRTRANYSE Arca

Overlap

0.0%by weight

Expense ratio

IRTR −0.87pt a year

ESBG0.95%IRTR0.08%

Avg volume · 30D

IRTR 15.9×the volume

ESBG799IRTR12.7K

ESBG vs IRTR Performance

Dec 31, 2025 – Oct 30, 2026

−6.7%ESBG+4.5%IRTR

Expense ratio: ESBG 0.95%; IRTR 0.08%, better
Fund size: ESBG $2M; IRTR $60M
1Y total return: ESBG No data; IRTR +5.1%
Yield (12M): ESBG No data; IRTR 3.17%
Holdings: ESBG 4; IRTR 29140
Avg volume (30D): ESBG 799 sh; IRTR 12.7K sh, better
NAV per share: ESBG $19.57; IRTR $31.52
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for ESBG, IRTR, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	ESBG	IRTR
Cost30% weight	F18	A97Higher
Mission25% weight	D28	A100Higher
Risk15% weight	F10	A82Higher
Tradability15% weight	F8	B62Higher
Holdings10% weight	F8	A80Higher
Durability5% weight	D28	B56Higher

Rank among Multi-Asset Allocation funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. ESBG and IRTR are both graded against the same 37 Multi-Asset Allocation funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

Multi-Asset Allocation⁠

Category · 37 funds

See all 37 ›

IRTR ranks 3rd and ESBG 36th of 37 funds in the Multi-Asset Allocation Category.

Rank 1AUCBGState Street SPDR UC Investments 90/10 Endowment Strategy Index ETFScore 95
Rank 2AAOAiShares Core 80/20 Aggressive Allocation ETFScore 88
Rank 3AIRTRiShares LifePath Retirement ETFScore 86
Rank 4AINCEFranklin Income Equity Focus ETFScore 74
Rank 35DLCOLOGIQ Contrarian Opportunities ETFScore 25
Rank 36FESBGFirst Trust Enhanced Stocks, Bonds & Gold ETFScore 17
Rank 36FGLDBIDX Alternative FIAT ETFScore 17

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

ESBGFFirst Trust Enhanced Stocks, Bonds & Gold ETF

IRTRAiShares LifePath Retirement ETF

In short

ESBG Stocks, bonds and gold in one actively managed wrapper. ESBG holds U.S. Treasuries and cash as collateral, then layers on futures for S&P 500, intermediate Treasury and gold exposure. The classic diversified trio, stacked rather than sliced.

IRTR A whole retirement portfolio in one ticker: global stock and bond ETFs blended at the conservative end, for 0.08% a year. That is index-fund pricing on a job most allocation funds charge roughly ten times more to do.

Stated mandate

ESBG The Fund seeks long-term total return through active management of U.S. Treasuries, cash and cash equivalents, and futures providing exposure to the S&P 500 Index, intermediate U.S. Treasuries, and gold.

IRTR The fund seeks conservative exposure through a broad portfolio of stock and bond ETFs spanning global asset classes.

Why people hold it

ESBG One ticket to the three-legged portfolio: futures deliver S&P 500, intermediate Treasury and gold exposure together, with Treasuries and cash sitting underneath as the collateral.ftportfolios.com
Actively managed rather than locked to a fixed split, so the manager can move among the stock, bond and gold sleeves and the Treasury and cash base.ftportfolios.com
Gold is a full sleeve, not a garnish. The strongest capital-efficient peers stack equities with one other asset (bonds in NTSX, gold in GDE); this one runs all three.
Backed by First Trust, a long-established ETF issuer, and it distributes quarterly.

IRTR Costs 0.08% a year against a 0.78% median for allocation funds. Roughly a tenth of the going rate for a portfolio-in-a-box.
One line item, global coverage. The fund holds a spread of stock and bond ETFs across asset classes, so the mixing happens inside the wrapper.ishares.com
Distributions come monthly rather than quarterly.
One of the strongest all-in-one allocation funds in its peer group, and the cheapest of that top tier: iShares' own AOA runs 0.19%.

Worth knowing

ESBG At 0.95%, it charges more than the typical allocation fund and far more than capital-efficient peers NTSX and GDE at 0.20%. Active discretion is the thing you're paying up for.
Launched in late 2025 as a small fund, so there's little history behind the manager's allocation calls and trading is lighter than the long-running names in the category.
The three sleeves are futures positions on a Treasury and cash base, so results depend on the collateral as well as the markets, and stocks, bonds and gold can fall together.ftportfolios.com

IRTR Thinly traded. Spreads can run wider than on household-name ETFs, so limit orders matter more here.
Launched in 2023, so the track record is short and the fund is still building scale.
Conservative by construction: it is built to move less than an all-stock portfolio, and that cuts in both directions.ishares.com

Full ESBG profile⁠

Full IRTR profile⁠

ESBG vs IRTR Holdings

How ESBG and IRTR differ

Overlap by weight

0.0%

Shared holdings make up 0.0% of ESBG and 0.0% of IRTR.

Level by level

Holdings0 in both0.0%

Sector

No Sector split for ESBG.

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

No country split for ESBG.

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

ESBG100.0%
IRTR10.0%

Securities held

ESBG3
IRTR29,043

Asset class

ESBG: Alternatives
IRTR: Multi-Asset

Holdings

Only in ESBG3
In both0
Only in IRTR29,043

Only in ESBG

3 securities, 71.7% of ESBG by weight

SP500 MIC EMIN FUTDec2627.46%
MICRO GOLD Dec2625.84%
US 5YR NOTE (CBT) Dec2618.40%

Only in IRTR

29,043 securities, 99.5% of IRTR by weight

Apple1.69%
NVIDIA1.62%
Microsoft1.31%
Treasury Note 1.38% 11/15/2031 (Tnote)1.28%
Amazon.com Inc0.79%
Treasury Note 2.63% 02/15/2029 (Tnote)0.76%
Alphabet Class A0.55%
Treasury Note 3.13% 11/15/2028 (Tnote)0.54%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 1.13% 10/15/2030 (Tips)0.54%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 1.25% 04/15/2031 (Tips)0.54%
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing0.53%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 1.63% 04/15/2030 (Tips)0.52%
Broadcom Inc0.51%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 1.63% 10/15/2029 (Tips)0.51%
Treasury Note 2.75% 02/15/2028 (Tnote)0.50%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 2.13% 04/15/2029 (Tips)0.49%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 2.38% 10/15/2028 (Tips)0.49%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 1.63% 10/15/2027 (Tips)0.48%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 1.25% 04/15/2028 (Tips)0.47%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 0.13% 04/15/2027 (Tips)0.47%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 0.13% 01/15/2031 (Tips)0.46%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 0.13% 07/15/2031 (Tips)0.46%
Meta Platforms Class A0.46%
Alphabet Class C0.45%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 0.13% 07/15/2030 (Tips)0.44%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 0.38% 07/15/2027 (Tips)0.43%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 0.50% 01/15/2028 (Tips)0.43%
Treasury Bond 2.50% 05/15/2046 (Tbond)0.42%
Treasury Note 2.88% 05/15/2028 (Tnote)0.42%
Treasury Bond 3.75% 11/15/2043 (Tbond)0.41%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 0.13% 01/15/2030 (Tips)0.40%
Treasury Bond 2.75% 11/15/2042 (Tbond)0.40%
Tesla Inc0.40%
Eli Lilly0.38%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 0.38% 01/15/2027 (Tips)0.37%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 0.75% 07/15/2028 (Tips)0.36%
Treasury Bond 6.13% 11/15/2027 (Tbond)0.36%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 0.25% 07/15/2029 (Tips)0.36%
Berkshire Hathaway Inc Class B0.34%
Treasury Bond 1.88% 02/15/2051 (Tbond)0.34%
Micron Technology0.34%
Treasury (Cpi) Note 0.88% 01/15/2029 (Tips)0.31%
Treasury Note 4.00% 05/31/2028 (Tnote)0.31%
JPMorgan Chase & Co0.30%
Treasury Note (Old) 4.38% 05/15/2036 (Tnote)0.28%
Treasury Note 2.38% 05/15/2029 (Tnote)0.28%
Advanced Micro Devices0.28%
Treasury Note 4.00% 05/31/2030 (Tnote)0.26%
Exxonmobil Holdings Corp0.26%
Treasury Note 4.00% 02/29/2028 (Tnote)0.25%

Weight gaps

ESBG and IRTR share no securities.

All ESBG holdings⁠All IRTR holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

ESBG vs IRTR Cost

Overpaying ESBG vs IRTR

$16,180

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

ESBG 0.95%
$17,869
IRTR 0.08%
$1,689

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

ESBG 0.95%
IRTR 0.08%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	ESBG	IRTR	Overpaying
10	$1,678	$147	$1,531
20	$6,322	$575	$5,747
30	$17,869	$1,689	$16,180

Expense ratio

0.95%ESBG
0.08%IRTR, cheaper

IRTR0.08%ESBG0.95%

0.06%1.36%

Middle half of Multi-Asset Allocation funds
Median 0.57%

IRTR 2nd cheapest of 37 funds

ESBG 30th cheapest of 37 funds

ESBG vs IRTR Dividends

Last 12 months to Oct 30, 2026

Yield (12M): ESBG No data; IRTR 3.17%
Payout (12M): ESBG No data; IRTR $1.00
Last payment: ESBG $0.09; IRTR $0.08
Ex-dividend: ESBG Sep 24, 2026; IRTR Oct 2, 2026
Paid on: ESBG Sep 30, 2026; IRTR Oct 7, 2026
Frequency: ESBG Quarterly; IRTR Monthly

Distribution history

Per share, 2023 to 2026, same scale for both

ESBGQuarterly · 4 paymentsAll ESBG payments⁠

IRTRMonthly · 35 paymentsAll IRTR payments⁠

ESBG vs IRTR Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: ESBG No dataIRTR 7.3%
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: ESBG No dataIRTR 1.14
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: ESBG No dataIRTR −6.3%since Oct 2023
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: ESBG 1.06IRTR 0.47; Market = 1

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