FIXT vs SCHZ

FIXTCTCW Core Plus Bond ETF

SCHZASchwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

FIXT An active core-plus bond fund that reaches for return outside the Agg while keeping duration within about a year of it. TCW's desk picks the sectors; the interest-rate exposure stays close to the benchmark.

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

FIXT FIXT is an actively managed core-plus bond ETF seeking consistent income and strong returns with modest risk. Its strategy uses benchmark-aware sector allocation while keeping duration within approximately one year of the benchmark.

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

• FIXT Core-plus with a leash: it can range beyond the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate for yield, but duration stays within roughly a year of the index, so it isn't a big rate bet.
• At 0.40%, it undercuts several active funds measured against the same index, including DBND (0.45%), SIFI (0.50%) and FTBD (0.55%).
• Pays monthly and spreads the work across roughly 600 bonds, so income arrives on a steady cadence rather than in quarterly lumps.
• Inception dates to 2002, meaning the strategy has run through multiple rate cycles, not just the post-2020 ETF boom.

• 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

• FIXT You pay 0.40% here against 0.03% at plain Agg trackers like BND, AGG and SPAB. The manager's sector calls carry that difference.
• Small and thinly traded, so spreads can be wider than the giants of the category. Limit orders are the usual habit with funds like this.
• In a peer group stacked with three-basis-point index funds, it lands in the lower half overall; the case rests on active credit and sector work.

• 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 FIXT profile⁠

Full SCHZ profile⁠