FTMU vs MUB

FTMUBFranklin Municipal Income ETF

MUBAiShares National Muni Bond ETF

In short

FTMU A municipal bond strategy with roots going back to 1976, now running inside an ETF. The job: income exempt from federal tax, spread across roughly 300 bonds, measured against the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index, at a fee sitting right on the category median.

MUB Municipal bonds, indexed and cheap. Since 2007, MUB has packaged investment-grade national munis into tax-exempt monthly income for five basis points a year, and it sits among the deepest pools in the muni-ETF aisle.

Stated mandate

FTMU The fund seeks a high level of current income exempt from federal income tax, consistent with preservation of capital.

MUB The fund seeks to track an index of investment-grade U.S. municipal bonds, providing diversified exposure to the national municipal-bond market and tax-exempt income.

Why people hold it

• FTMU Long lineage. The strategy dates to 1976, which puts decades of rate cycles behind the approach now delivered in an ETF wrapper.
• The mandate is refreshingly plain: a high level of current income exempt from federal income tax, consistent with preservation of capital, spread over roughly 300 municipal bonds.
• The 0.30% fee lands exactly at the muni-cohort median and undercuts Franklin's own FTCA (0.35%), which is measured against the same Bloomberg muni benchmark.

• MUB 0.05% a year against a muni-ETF median near 0.30%. In a category built on modest, tax-exempt yields, that fee gap is real money left in the fund.
• The benchmark is AMT-free: the ICE AMT-Free US National Municipal Index screens out munis whose interest can be pulled into the alternative minimum tax.ishares.com
• Tracks its index closely, one of the tighter jobs in its peer group, and distributes monthly. A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively.
• Broad investment-grade exposure across the national muni market, spread over thousands of issuers rather than one state's budget.ishares.com

Worth knowing

• FTMU Hands-on bond picking has a price. Broad index muni funds like VTEB and SCMB charge 0.03%, so 0.30% is what the active seat costs here.
• Payouts have arrived on an irregular cadence rather than a fixed monthly rhythm, so income timing is less predictable than at some muni peers.
• The tax break in the objective is federal. It says nothing about state or local income tax, which varies by where you live.

• MUB Two rivals undercut it: VTEB and SCMB both run 0.03%. A two-basis-point gap is small, but it is a gap.
• A bond fund with no maturity date to hold to. Share prices move with interest rates and muni credit conditions, both directions.
• National by design, so no single-state tilt and no in-state tax angle. iShares runs state-specific muni funds such as NYF for that job.

Full FTMU profile⁠

Full MUB profile⁠