FLGV vs SPTB

FLGVBFranklin U.S. Treasury Bond ETF

SPTBAState Street SPDR Portfolio Treasury ETF

In short

FLGV Treasuries only, anywhere from 1 to 30 years, in one ticker. Franklin charges 0.09%, under the typical fee in its Treasury peer group, and the income lands monthly.

SPTB State Street's Treasury slice of the Agg in one ticker: the whole curve from a year out to the long end, roughly 300 bonds, for three basis points. It arrived in 2024 as the Treasury building block in the SPDR Portfolio suite.

Stated mandate

FLGV The Fund seeks income and normally invests at least 80% of net assets in direct U.S. Treasury obligations and related Treasury exposures. It may hold Treasury securities of any maturity, with primary emphasis on remaining maturities from 1 to 30 years.

SPTB The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Index and provides exposure to U.S. Treasuries with at least one year remaining to maturity.

Why people hold it

• FLGV One ticker for the whole Treasury curve: at least 80% of net assets in direct U.S. Treasury obligations, with the emphasis on maturities running 1 to 30 years.
• 0.09% a year undercuts the 0.12% median for Treasury funds in its peer group. On government paper, where yields are what they are, the fee is the lever you control.
• Pays monthly, and it is a multi-billion-dollar fund, so the income arrives on a predictable schedule rather than in quarterly lumps.
• Since its 2020 launch it has hewed tightly to its stated Treasury mandate, one of the closer mandate matches in a crowded Treasury peer group.

• SPTB Three basis points. The typical fund in the Treasury cohort charges about five times that, and SPTB undercuts iShares' GOVT at five while tying Vanguard's VTG.
• One ticker covers the full Treasury curve, everything with at least a year to maturity, instead of stacking separate short, intermediate and long sleeves.ssga.com
• Plain index replication of the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Index: government paper only, no credit sleeve, no derivatives overlay in the mandate.ssga.com
• Pays income monthly, and the implementation ranks in the top quartile of its Treasury peer group on our review.

Worth knowing

• FLGV Cheaper shelf-mates exist: VGIT and VTG run 0.03%, a third of this fee. You are paying a bit more for Franklin's version of the same government paper.
• Moderately traded rather than one of the tape's busiest Treasury funds, so spreads matter more on large or hurried orders.
• Holdings can stretch out to 30-year maturities, so this carries real interest-rate sensitivity, not the calm of a T-bill fund.

• SPTB Full-curve means long bonds are in the mix, so the price swings with interest rates far more than a short-term Treasury fund does.
• It launched in 2024, so the live record is short next to cohort veterans that have traded through multiple rate cycles.
• Moderately traded rather than the volume leader in its category, so bigger orders are worth routing with limits and a glance at the spread.

Full FLGV profile⁠

Full SPTB profile⁠