GARA vs NFRA

GARACGuinness Atkinson Real Assets Income ETF

NFRAANorthern Trust STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure ETF

In short

GARA An active take on real assets: GARA pairs dividend-paying REITs with the companies that build and run infrastructure, and keeps a hard floor under each sleeve so neither can crowd the other out.

NFRA Most global infrastructure funds stop at utilities and toll roads. NFRA's index goes wider, adding cell towers, data centers, hospitals, prisons and postal routes to the pipelines and railroads, across developed and emerging markets.

Stated mandate

GARA The Fund seeks moderately high current income, consistent dividend growth, and capital appreciation.

NFRA The fund seeks to match, before fees and expenses, the performance of the STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure Index.

Why people hold it

• GARA The prospectus sets a floor of at least 15% in REITs and at least 15% in infrastructure at all times, so the fund cannot quietly drift into a one-sector bet.sec.gov
• At 0.45% a year, it costs less than the typical fund in its infrastructure peer group.
• No index to follow. The manager buys dividend payers that build, finance and operate physical assets, requiring at least half of revenue from real estate or infrastructure.sec.gov
• The stated goal is three-part: moderately high current income, consistent dividend growth, and capital appreciation, rather than the highest yield available today.sec.gov

• NFRA Five supersectors in one wrapper: communications, energy, utilities, transportation and government outsourcing (hospitals, postal, correctional), across roughly 220 holdings.flexshares.com
• Charges 0.47% net (0.48% gross), net of a waiver through March 1, 2027, below the infrastructure category median.
• The index does real work: half of revenue must come from infrastructure, names must clear a $1 million daily-volume screen, and sector caps limit crowding. Rebalanced quarterly.flexshares.com
• Listed in 2013 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that pays quarterly, it sits among the stronger builds in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• GARA Launched in December 2025, still a small fund and thinly traded, so spreads can run wider and there is little live history to judge the manager by.
• Distributions arrive once or twice a year rather than monthly, so the income comes in lumps.
• The peer group includes long-established index rivals priced lower, such as IFRA at 0.30% and IGF at 0.37%.

• NFRA Cheaper options sit on the same shelf: IFRA at 0.30%, IGF at 0.37%, GII at 0.40%. Each tracks a different index with a different definition of infrastructure.
• Broad cuts both ways: telecoms, railroads and postal operators share the portfolio with utilities, so this is not a pure regulated-utility sleeve.flexshares.comflexshares.com 2
• Volume is moderate rather than heavy for the category, which can mean wider spreads on larger orders.

Full GARA profile⁠

Full NFRA profile⁠