FTNJ vs SCMB

FTNJBFranklin New Jersey Municipal Income ETF

SCMBASchwab Municipal Bond ETF

In short

FTNJ A New Jersey-only muni portfolio in an ETF wrapper: the mandate is current income exempt from both federal and New Jersey personal income tax, run off a Franklin strategy whose lineage goes back to 1990. Narrow by design, in a cohort ruled by national funds.

SCMB Schwab's take on the core muni sleeve: three basis points, thousands of AMT-free bonds from across the country, and a monthly distribution. Bottom-of-the-table pricing, no frills attached.

Stated mandate

FTNJ The fund seeks a high level of current income exempt from federal income tax and New Jersey personal income tax.

SCMB The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of an index representing the U.S. AMT-free municipal bond market.

Why people hold it

• FTNJ The cohort's biggest names are national portfolios or other single states. This one is built for New Jersey, targeting income exempt from federal and NJ personal income tax.
• Roughly 160 municipal bonds pointed at one clearly stated job: a high level of double tax-exempt current income for New Jersey taxpayers.
• The strategy's lineage runs back to 1990, so this is a long-tenured muni mandate in ETF clothing, not a ticker minted last week for a theme.
• It stays close to what the prospectus promises: a plain muni income portfolio with no leverage, no derivatives overlay, no structural surprises.

• SCMB Three basis points a year, against a 0.30% median for muni bond funds. Among the top-graded names in the category, only Vanguard's VTEB matches that fee.
• Follows the ICE AMT-Free Core U.S. National Municipal Index across thousands of bonds and issuers, so no single borrower or state drives the portfolio.
• Plain passive plumbing done well: it stays close to its index, trades actively, and pays monthly. One of the stronger implementations in the muni aisle.

Worth knowing

• FTNJ The 0.35% annual fee sits above the typical muni ETF's. Index giants like VTEB and MUB cost a fraction, though neither is New Jersey-specific.
• One state, about 160 bonds. Concentration is the price of the state tax break, so New Jersey budget and credit news lands harder here than in a national fund.
• A modest asset base and only moderate trading mean spreads can matter more than in the mega national muni funds, and payouts arrive on an irregular schedule.

• SCMB Launched in 2022, so its live record is shorter than muni staples like MUB and VTEB, even though the strategy is the same broad-market idea.
• Bond math still applies. This is a portfolio of municipal bonds, so share prices move opposite to interest rates.
• National in scope, not single-state like NYF, so it is not built around any one state's tax rules.

Full FTNJ profile⁠

Full SCMB profile⁠