GCOR vs SCHZ

GCORAGoldman Sachs Access U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

SCHZASchwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

GCOR Not the plain Agg. GCOR tracks a custom FTSE Goldman Sachs index that screens investment-grade bonds for liquidity, seasoning and weakening corporate fundamentals, at 0.08% net of a waiver through December 29, 2026.

SCHZ Schwab's core bond holding: the broad U.S. investment-grade bond market, over 10,000 issues deep, for 0.03% a year. That is the floor of a category whose median fee is more than ten times higher. Running since 2011, pays monthly.

Stated mandate

GCOR The Fund seeks to closely track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the FTSE Goldman Sachs US Broad Bond Market Index.

SCHZ The fund seeks to track the total return of an index representing the broad U.S. investment-grade bond market.

Why people hold it

• GCOR Screens are the point: corporate issuers are ranked on operating margin and leverage each quarter, mortgage bonds on seasoning, and the weakest-ranked get trimmed or dropped.lseg.comgsam.com
• At 0.08% net of a waiver through December 29, 2026 (0.09% gross), it undercuts the core-bond category median, rare for a rules-based twist on the Agg.
• Roughly 1,800 bonds spanning Treasuries, agency, mortgage, asset-backed and corporate debt, with income paid monthly.gsam.com
• Tracking has been tight since the 2020 launch, one of the stronger implementations in a crowded core-bond field.

• SCHZ 0.03% a year sits at the category floor, against a cohort median of 0.36%. Only a short list of aggregate-bond funds matches it, including AGG, BND and SPAB.
• Tracks the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index tightly, one of the cleanest index implementations among the 187 funds in its peer group.schwabassetmanagement.com
• One ticker, thousands of investment-grade U.S. bonds, income paid monthly. The plumbing of a bond portfolio without buying a single bond yourself.
• Live since 2011 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so trading costs on ordinary retail-sized orders tend to be minor.

Worth knowing

• GCOR The vanilla trackers (AGG, BND, SPAB, SCHZ) charge 0.03% with no waiver attached, so the screens cost a few extra basis points.
• By design it holds a different mix than the standard Agg, so its results can drift from the benchmark most core bond funds quote.lseg.com
• Moderately traded and not among the category's giants, so spreads can run wider than the mega-funds'.

• SCHZ This is duration exposure, not a cash substitute. Interest-rate moves, not credit selection, drive most of the ride, and that is the weakest part of its risk profile.
• Investment grade and U.S. only: no high-yield, no foreign bonds. Funds like BNDX cover the international side of the cohort.
• The aggregate-bond aisle is commoditized. Against AGG, BND and SPAB at the same 0.03%, the differences come down to index variant and where you already custody, not fee.

Full GCOR profile⁠

Full SCHZ profile⁠