JHPI vs PFFV

JHPIBJohn Hancock Preferred Income ETF

PFFVBGlobal X Variable Rate Preferred ETF

In short

JHPI A stock-picker's take on preferred income: JHPI skips the index entirely and lets its manager hunt preferreds it judges undervalued, with room to roam as far down as B-rated credit. Pays monthly.

PFFV Most preferred funds hand you a fixed coupon and a lot of rate sensitivity. PFFV screens for variable-rate preferreds only, so coupons reset off short-term benchmarks instead of standing still, at 0.25% a year with monthly payouts.

Stated mandate

JHPI The fund seeks a high level of current income while preserving capital.

PFFV The fund seeks to provide investment results generally corresponding to the price and yield performance of the ICE U.S. Variable Rate Preferred Securities Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• JHPI Not an index fund. The manager works sector allocation, industry allocation and security selection, buying preferreds it judges undervalued versus similar names.jhinvestments.com
• Pays monthly, and spreads that income across roughly 220 preferred and hybrid positions rather than a concentrated handful.
• The portfolio sticks closely to the preferred-income mandate it advertises, one of the stronger implementations in its peer group.

• PFFV Costs 0.25% a year, about half the typical preferred ETF fee and a fraction of what an actively run peer like FPE charges (0.83%).
• The whole point: an index of variable-rate preferreds, whose coupons reset off short-term benchmarks rather than locking in for the life of the security.
• Passive and plain-vanilla. Roughly 60 US preferred issues picked by published index rules, with income paid out monthly.
• Stacks up as one of the stronger builds in a crowded preferred-ETF field, mostly on cost and a clean, rules-based mandate.

Worth knowing

• JHPI Fee is 0.54% net of a waiver through July 31, 2027 (0.66% gross), near the category median; index rivals like PFFD at 0.23% cost less.
• One of the smaller, more thinly traded names in the group, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than at the category's giants.
• Up to 50% of net assets can sit in below-investment-grade preferreds, floored at B, so credit stress shows up in the price.jhinvestments.com

• PFFV Preferred issuance skews to banks and insurers, so this is concentrated financials credit in bond clothing, spread across only about 60 positions.
• Resets cut both ways. The same floating mechanism that lifts coupons when short-term rates climb also drags them down when rates fall.
• Moderately traded and mid-sized rather than a heavyweight, so bid-ask spreads matter more here than in the largest preferred funds.

Full JHPI profile⁠

Full PFFV profile⁠