ICPI vs SCHP

ICPI—iShares 0-1 Year TIPS Bond ETF

SCHPASchwab US TIPS ETF

In short

ICPI Most of the T-bill aisle pays a nominal yield and hopes inflation behaves. ICPI holds the shortest inflation-protected Treasuries on the curve, one year or less, so principal moves with CPI while rate risk stays small.

SCHP Inflation insurance in the plainest wrapper available: SCHP owns the full maturity range of Treasury inflation-protected bonds and tracks its Bloomberg index for three basis points a year.

Stated mandate

ICPI The fund seeks to track an index of inflation-protected U.S. Treasury bonds with remaining maturities of one year or less. It is designed to provide a way to seek protection against near-term inflation.

SCHP The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of an index composed of inflation-protected U.S. Treasury securities.

Why people hold it

• ICPI Rare mandate in a bill-fund crowd: inflation-protected U.S. Treasuries maturing in a year or less, so principal adjusts with CPI while interest-rate sensitivity stays short.ishares.com
• 0.09% expense ratio, below the median for its short-Treasury peer group.
• One job, done literally: track an index of sub-one-year TIPS, U.S. Treasury credit only, no active tinkering. Distributions land quarterly.

• SCHP 0.03% a year, a quarter of the typical Treasury-fund fee and level with the cheapest names in the group (VGIT, VCSH).
• One job, done literally: only inflation-linked US Treasuries, whose principal adjusts with the official consumer price index.
• Running since 2010, now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively and hugs the Bloomberg Series-L index closely.
• Passive, no maturity tilt, no manager view: one of the cleaner builds among Treasury ETFs.

Worth knowing

• ICPI A late-2025 launch with a small asset base and light trading, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the household-name bill funds. Limit orders matter here.
• This is a CPI-linked instrument, not a yield engine. With a year or less to maturity, the inflation adjustment does most of the work, in both directions.
• Plain nominal peers like BIL and TBLL are far more heavily traded for straight cash parking. ICPI's differentiator is the inflation link, not liquidity.

• SCHP Inflation-linked is not rate-proof. This spans the whole maturity spectrum, so prices move with real yields.
• Distributions are irregular. Coupons sit on an inflation-adjusted principal, so the cash arrives lumpy, not as a steady check.
• About 50 bonds, all Uncle Sam. No credit spread, no corporate yield pickup; inflation and duration are the whole story.

Full ICPI profile⁠

Full SCHP profile⁠