FLTB vs IGSB

FLTBDFidelity Limited Term Bond ETF

IGSBAiShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

In short

FLTB Fidelity's short-bond ETF skips the index rulebook: a manager team picks 1-5 year corporate credit, using Fidelity's own blended yardstick as a guide rather than a cage. One of the original active bond ETFs, running since 2014.

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

FLTB The fund is a shorter-duration, investment-grade bond strategy focused primarily on U.S. corporate credit.

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

• FLTB Actively run since its 2014 launch, with Fidelity's blended 1-5 year credit, government and high-yield composite used as a guide for allocation, not a set of tracking handcuffs.fidelity.com
• The mandate reaches past plain investment grade: the guiding blend carries a slice of short-dated BB-B high yield alongside 1-5 year corporate and government debt.fidelity.com
• Short maturities mean smaller price swings when rates move than longer-dated bond funds carry, and income is paid out monthly.
• Spreads its credit risk across roughly 500 positions, so no single issuer carries the portfolio.

• 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

• FLTB It charges 0.25% a year, above the cohort median, while index rivals like IGSB, SPIB and VCIT run a few basis points. Active management is what the extra buys.
• Moderately traded and mid-sized rather than a volume giant, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than at the largest corporate bond ETFs.
• The latitude to hold high yield and non-index sectors adds credit risk you would not get from a pure investment-grade tracker.fidelity.comfidelity.com 2

• 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 FLTB profile⁠

Full IGSB profile⁠