FPE vs PFFV

FPEBFirst Trust Preferred Securities and Income ETF

PFFVBGlobal X Variable Rate Preferred ETF

In short

FPE A preferred-securities fund that doesn't stop at preferreds: the mandate also reaches into corporate bonds, high yield and convertibles. Running since 2013, big, actively traded, and it pays monthly.

PFFV Most preferred funds hand you a fixed coupon and a lot of rate sensitivity. PFFV screens for variable-rate preferreds only, so coupons reset off short-term benchmarks instead of standing still, at 0.25% a year with monthly payouts.

Stated mandate

FPE The fund seeks total return and current income. It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in preferred securities and income-producing debt securities, including corporate bonds, high-yield securities, and convertible securities.

PFFV The fund seeks to provide investment results generally corresponding to the price and yield performance of the ICE U.S. Variable Rate Preferred Securities Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• FPE The 80% policy spans preferred securities and income-producing debt: corporate bonds, high-yield, convertibles. One ticker, several income markets instead of a single slice.
• Live since 2013 and grown into a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, real staying power in a niche corner of the bond market.
• Monthly distributions from a portfolio of roughly 240 positions, and one of the stronger overall showings among the preferred funds we grade.

• PFFV Costs 0.25% a year, about half the typical preferred ETF fee and a fraction of what an actively run peer like FPE charges (0.83%).
• The whole point: an index of variable-rate preferreds, whose coupons reset off short-term benchmarks rather than locking in for the life of the security.
• Passive and plain-vanilla. Roughly 60 US preferred issues picked by published index rules, with income paid out monthly.
• Stacks up as one of the stronger builds in a crowded preferred-ETF field, mostly on cost and a clean, rules-based mandate.

Worth knowing

• FPE The fee is 0.83% a year, well above the typical preferred ETF, and cheaper shelf-mates exist (EVPF at 0.20%, PFFV at 0.25%).
• That wide mandate cuts both ways: high-yield and convertible holdings carry credit risk a plain investment-grade preferred sleeve would not.

• PFFV Preferred issuance skews to banks and insurers, so this is concentrated financials credit in bond clothing, spread across only about 60 positions.
• Resets cut both ways. The same floating mechanism that lifts coupons when short-term rates climb also drags them down when rates fall.
• Moderately traded and mid-sized rather than a heavyweight, so bid-ask spreads matter more here than in the largest preferred funds.

Full FPE profile⁠

Full PFFV profile⁠