FLDR vs IGSB

FLDR—Fidelity Low Duration Bond Factor ETF

IGSBAiShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

In short

FLDR Most ultra-short bond funds are parking lots for cash. FLDR is the rules-based one: a Fidelity index of roughly 250 investment-grade bonds built to keep interest-rate sensitivity low, priced under the typical ultra-short fund.

IGSB Corporate credit with the rate risk dialed down: roughly 4,700 investment-grade bonds, none maturing past five years, for four basis points. iShares has run it since 2007.

Stated mandate

FLDR The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Fidelity Low Duration Investment Grade Factor Index.

IGSB The fund seeks to track an index containing U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds with remaining maturities from one through five years.

Why people hold it

• FLDR Charges 0.15% a year, below the 0.20% median for ultra-short bond funds and level with top-ranked peers SHV, PULS and DUSB.
• Rules first, hunches never. It passively tracks the published Fidelity Low Duration Investment Grade Factor Index, so the recipe is written down.
• Pays monthly and spreads the work across about 250 investment-grade holdings, so no single issuer carries the portfolio.
• Live since 2018 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, it stands among the stronger implementations in its ultra-short bond peer group.

• IGSB Four basis points a year, a fraction of the typical investment-grade corporate bond fund's fee and level with the cheapest tier of its peer group.
• One-to-five-year maturities mean prices move less when rates move than long-dated corporate funds. Same corporate credit, shorter leash.ishares.com
• Thousands of individual bonds tracking the ICE BofA 1-5 Year US Corporate Index, with income paid monthly.ishares.com
• Trading since 2007, actively traded, and one of the strongest builds in the investment-grade corporate group on cost, portfolio and execution.

Worth knowing

• FLDR Low duration is not zero duration. The mandate keeps rate sensitivity short, but the share price still moves. This is a bond ETF, not a money market fund.
• The index is investment-grade credit, not pure government paper like SHV's Treasury sleeve, so credit conditions feed into the price.
• Moderately traded rather than a volume monster, so spreads can run wider than the largest cash-parking ETFs.

• IGSB Short maturities cut both ways: less price damage when rates rise, less lift when they fall.
• These are company bonds, not Treasuries. Investment grade, but credit spreads can widen and prices move with them.
• Only the front of the curve. Sibling IGIB runs 5-10 years and USIG spans broad maturities, both at the same fee.

Full FLDR profile⁠

Full IGSB profile⁠