HMOP vs SCMB

HMOPBHartford Municipal Opportunities ETF

SCMBASchwab Municipal 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.

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

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

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

• 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.

• 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

• 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

• 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 HMOP profile⁠

Full SCMB profile⁠