ITOT vs SPYM

ITOTAiShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF

SPYMAState Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF

In short

ITOT The S&P family's answer to total-market indexing: large, mid and small U.S. stocks in one 0.03% wrapper, running since 2004. Same fee as the Vanguard and Schwab giants, a different index rulebook.

SPYM State Street's budget-priced S&P 500 tracker: the same 500 large caps as its famous sibling, for 0.02% a year, the lowest fee in its S&P 500 peer group. Running since 2005 and now one of the category's giants.

Stated mandate

ITOT The fund seeks to track the performance of the S&P Composite 1500, representing U.S. stocks across market capitalizations.

SPYM The fund seeks to track the total return of the S&P 500 Index before fees and expenses, providing broad exposure to U.S. large-cap equities.

Why people hold it

• ITOT 0.03% a year, matching the category's biggest names (VTI, SCHB) and sitting below what the typical fund in this group charges.
• One index, no tilts: U.S. stocks across market caps in cap-weight order. The mandate it prints is the mandate it runs.
• Trading since 2004 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund with active daily volume, so spreads are rarely the story.
• Plain 1940 Act fund structure, cash paid out quarterly.

• SPYM 0.02% a year, the cheapest fee in its S&P 500 cohort, against a 0.15% median for the group. Two dollars a year per $10,000 invested.
• Same S&P 500 index as State Street's flagship SPY (0.09%), for a fraction of the fee, and a basis point under VOO and IVV.
• Tracks the index tightly: gaps between fund and benchmark are among the smallest in its peer group, which is the whole job of an index wrapper.
• Live since 2005, now one of the largest and most heavily traded funds in the category. Distributions land quarterly.

Worth knowing

• ITOT Cap weighting puts the megacaps in the driver's seat; the long tail of smaller names is a thin slice of the basket.
• SPTM tracks the same declared index at the same 0.03% fee, so the pick comes down to platform, spreads and existing tax lots.
• All-equity and all-U.S. by design: no bonds, no foreign stocks in the wrapper.

• SPYM The S&P 500 is cap-weighted, so the biggest US companies drive most of the move. Equal-weight takes on the same index (RSP) spread that bet differently.
• About 500 US large caps and nothing else: no mid caps, no small caps, no international.
• The fee edge over VOO and IVV is one basis point. Same index, so trading costs and platform access matter as much as the sticker fee.

Full ITOT profile⁠

Full SPYM profile⁠