JMSI vs MUB

JMSICJPMorgan Sustainable Municipal Income ETF

MUBAiShares National Muni Bond ETF

In short

JMSI A muni fund where "sustainable" has a definition: at least 80% of assets in bonds funding affordable housing, hospitals, schools, water systems and transit. Actively run, value-oriented, tax-exempt income paid monthly.

MUB Municipal bonds, indexed and cheap. Since 2007, MUB has packaged investment-grade national munis into tax-exempt monthly income for five basis points a year, and it sits among the deepest pools in the muni-ETF aisle.

Stated mandate

JMSI The fund seeks current income exempt from federal income tax by investing in municipal bonds whose proceeds support positive social or environmental benefits.

MUB The fund seeks to track an index of investment-grade U.S. municipal bonds, providing diversified exposure to the national municipal-bond market and tax-exempt income.

Why people hold it

• JMSI The screen is spelled out in the filings: affordable housing, healthcare, water and sewer, education, mass transit and issuer-designated green bonds, at least 80% of assets.sec.gov
• Active and value-oriented rather than index-tracking: roughly 300 municipal bonds picked by J.P. Morgan's muni team, with federally tax-exempt income distributed monthly.jpmorgan.com
• The ETF listed in 2023, but it carries forward a predecessor mutual fund whose record starts in 1993. Long-running strategy, newer packaging.jpmorgan.com
• The portfolio closely matches the mandate its own documents describe, so the sustainability label is doing real work.

• MUB 0.05% a year against a muni-ETF median near 0.30%. In a category built on modest, tax-exempt yields, that fee gap is real money left in the fund.
• The benchmark is AMT-free: the ICE AMT-Free US National Municipal Index screens out munis whose interest can be pulled into the alternative minimum tax.ishares.com
• Tracks its index closely, one of the tighter jobs in its peer group, and distributes monthly. A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively.
• Broad investment-grade exposure across the national muni market, spread over thousands of issuers rather than one state's budget.ishares.com

Worth knowing

• JMSI Cost runs above the category median. Broad index staples like VTEB and SCMB charge 0.03%, so the research and the screen are something you pay up for.
• "Sustainable" is defined by the adviser's own use-of-proceeds process, and the 80% policy can change on 60 days' written notice to shareholders.sec.gov
• A mid-size fund that trades moderately, so spreads can be wider than the giant muni index ETFs, and the bonds inside still carry rate and credit risk.

• MUB Two rivals undercut it: VTEB and SCMB both run 0.03%. A two-basis-point gap is small, but it is a gap.
• A bond fund with no maturity date to hold to. Share prices move with interest rates and muni credit conditions, both directions.
• National by design, so no single-state tilt and no in-state tax angle. iShares runs state-specific muni funds such as NYF for that job.

Full JMSI profile⁠

Full MUB profile⁠