MAGG vs SPAB

MAGGCMadison Aggregate Bond ETF

SPABAState Street SPDR Portfolio Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

MAGG Madison's compact take on the Agg: roughly 200 bonds instead of the benchmark's thousands, paying monthly. A hand-built core bond portfolio at the category's median fee, in a corner of the market where the index giants charge pennies.

SPAB A 2007-vintage core bond fund priced at 0.03%: roughly 8,500 US investment-grade bonds in one ticket, at the same rock-bottom fee the household names charge for the same index.

Stated mandate

MAGG The fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus investment-purpose borrowings, in bonds.

SPAB The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index before fees and expenses, providing broad exposure to U.S.-dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds.

Why people hold it

• MAGG Holds about 200 bonds against a Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate benchmark that spans thousands: a curated portfolio, not a full index replica.
• The 0.36% fee sits right at the category median and matches Fidelity's FBND, so the managed approach doesn't carry a boutique premium.
• Pays monthly, and the prospectus commits at least 80% of net assets to bonds, keeping it a core fixed income sleeve rather than a wanderer.

• SPAB 0.03% a year against a 0.36% median for its peer group, and the same ticket price as AGG, SCHZ and BBAG on the identical index.
• Roughly 8,500 dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds in one line item, tracking the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. Diversification you could not assemble bond by bond.ssga.com
• Trades actively and has tracked its index closely, putting it among the stronger implementations in the core-bond group.
• Running since 2007, now a multi-billion-dollar fund, and it pays monthly rather than quarterly.

Worth knowing

• MAGG Index funds on the same Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate benchmark (BND, AGG, SPAB) charge 0.03%, roughly a twelfth of this fee.
• Thinly traded with a modest asset base, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the category anchors', which shows up most on bigger orders.
• Launched in 2023, it has a short live record next to the decades-old funds tracking the same benchmark.

• SPAB Bond prices move opposite yields. When rates rise the index falls and the fund follows it down; a 0.03% fee cannot cushion that.
• AGG, SCHZ and BBAG hold the same declared index at the same 0.03%. Picking among them comes down to spreads and platform, not the portfolio.
• Investment grade and US dollar only by mandate: high yield and foreign-currency debt sit outside the remit.ssga.com

Full MAGG profile⁠

Full SPAB profile⁠