FFIU vs SPAB

FFIUDUVA Unconstrained Medium-Term Fixed Income ETF

SPABAState Street SPDR Portfolio Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

FFIU A go-anywhere bond fund with a human at the wheel: no index to track, just an active manager picking across the fixed income market for current income. It has been running since 2017.

SPAB A 2007-vintage core bond fund priced at 0.03%: roughly 8,500 US investment-grade bonds in one ticket, at the same rock-bottom fee the household names charge for the same index.

Stated mandate

FFIU The Fund seeks current income with limited risk to principal by investing mainly in fixed income securities of any kind. It normally invests at least 80% of assets in those securities.

SPAB The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index before fees and expenses, providing broad exposure to U.S.-dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds.

Why people hold it

• FFIU Unconstrained means unconstrained: no benchmark to hug, and the prospectus allows fixed income of any kind, plus up to 20% in futures, options, cash or other funds.sec.gov
• Built for income, not fireworks. At least 80% of assets sit in fixed income, the stated aim is current income with limited risk to principal, and cash goes out quarterly.sec.gov
• Trading since 2017, so there is a real multi-year record across very different rate environments rather than a backtest.

• SPAB 0.03% a year against a 0.36% median for its peer group, and the same ticket price as AGG, SCHZ and BBAG on the identical index.
• Roughly 8,500 dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds in one line item, tracking the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. Diversification you could not assemble bond by bond.ssga.com
• Trades actively and has tracked its index closely, putting it among the stronger implementations in the core-bond group.
• Running since 2007, now a multi-billion-dollar fund, and it pays monthly rather than quarterly.

Worth knowing

• FFIU Costs 0.54% a year, above the roughly 0.36% median for core bond ETFs and well above index giants like BND, SPAB and SCHZ at 0.03%.
• Small and thinly traded, which usually means wider bid-ask spreads and more gap between your fill price and the fund's underlying value.
• Outcomes hinge on the manager's judgment rather than a published index, so there is no benchmark to measure the portfolio against day to day.

• SPAB Bond prices move opposite yields. When rates rise the index falls and the fund follows it down; a 0.03% fee cannot cushion that.
• AGG, SCHZ and BBAG hold the same declared index at the same 0.03%. Picking among them comes down to spreads and platform, not the portfolio.
• Investment grade and US dollar only by mandate: high yield and foreign-currency debt sit outside the remit.ssga.com

Full FFIU profile⁠

Full SPAB profile⁠