HMOP vs MUB

HMOPBHartford Municipal Opportunities ETF

MUBAiShares National Muni Bond ETF

In short

HMOP Most muni ETFs buy the index and call it a day. HMOP hands the keys to Wellington: an active muni portfolio that can hold up to 35% high yield paper, roam any maturity, and pay federally tax-exempt income monthly.

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

HMOP The fund seeks current income generally exempt from federal income tax together with long-term total return.

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

• HMOP Actively run by sub-adviser Wellington, with room for up to 35% in below-investment-grade munis and bonds of any maturity, corners index trackers cannot reach.sec.gov
• Monthly income that is generally exempt from federal tax, spread across roughly 500 holdings and diversified over states and sectors.sec.gov
• At 0.29%, it charges about what the typical muni ETF does, unusual for a fund with a live manager picking the bonds.
• Trading since 2017 and sitting in the upper half of a crowded muni ETF field.

• 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

• HMOP Index heavyweights VTEB (0.03%) and MUB (0.05%) cost a fraction of this. The premium buys active judgment, not index tracking.
• High yield munis and any-maturity latitude mean credit and rate exposure shift with the manager's view, not a fixed benchmark.sec.gov
• Some of the income can be subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax.sec.gov

• 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 HMOP profile⁠

Full MUB profile⁠