IBD vs USIG

IBDDInspire Corporate Bond ETF

USIGAiShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

In short

IBD The first bond ETF ever built on biblical-values screens. IBD holds intermediate-term investment grade US corporate debt from companies that clear Inspire's rules-based Impact Score, and pays monthly.

USIG Most investment-grade corporate bond funds hand you one slice of the maturity curve. USIG takes the whole thing, thousands of US dollar corporate bonds from short-dated to long, for four basis points a year.

Stated mandate

IBD The fund seeks to track the Inspire Corporate Bond Impact Index before fees and expenses. It generally invests at least 80% of assets in the index's component securities.

USIG The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds.

Why people hold it

• IBD The original of its kind: launched in 2017 as the first faith-based bond ETF, so it has years of live operating history behind the screen, not a back-test.yahoo.com
• The screen is rules-based, not a vibe. Inspire's Impact Score rates companies from -100 to +100 and docks points for exclusionary violations, so inclusion logic is published.website-files.com
• Plain-vanilla plumbing under the values layer: investment grade corporate bonds, intermediate maturities, at least 80% in index components, with income paid monthly.website-files.com
• Rare scale for a conviction fund: assets in the hundreds of millions and moderate day-to-day trading, where most values-screened bond funds stay tiny.

• USIG Costs 0.04% a year, against a category median near 0.19%. CORP, which tracks the same ICE BofA US Corporate Index, charges 0.41%.
• One ticker, the full USD investment-grade corporate curve: thousands of bonds, short to long. Slice funds like IGSB (1-5 year) and IGIB (5-10 year) each cover one segment.ishares.com
• Running since 2007, it has tracked its index with very little drift and is one of the more actively traded funds in its category.
• Interest lands monthly, and this is a multi-billion-dollar fund that ranks among the strongest implementations in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• IBD Conviction costs. At 0.41% a year, IBD runs above the typical investment grade corporate bond ETF, and well above index staples like VCIT (0.03%) and USIG (0.04%).
• Screening out whole industries shrinks the bond universe, so sector and issuer mix can look different from a broad corporate bond benchmark.website-files.com
• Among dozens of investment grade corporate bond ETFs, it sits in the lower tier of the group, mostly on fees and trading friction rather than what it owns.

• USIG Owning the whole curve means long-dated bonds ride along, so the price swings more when rates move than a short-maturity slice such as IGSB.
• This is corporate credit, not Treasuries. Investment grade at purchase, but prices can fall when spreads widen or an issuer is downgraded.ishares.com
• VCIT edges it on fee at 0.03%, though that fund stays in intermediate maturities rather than the full curve.

Full IBD profile⁠

Full USIG profile⁠