MANI vs USHY

MANIDMan Active Income ETF

USHYAiShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

In short

MANI An income-first bond fund that runs on a manager's credit calls, not an index. Launched in 2025 into a high yield aisle dominated by ultra-cheap trackers, it is the active alternative, and priced like one.

USHY The wide-angle lens on junk bonds: about 1,900 US dollar high yield corporate issues for 0.08% a year, a fifth of what the typical fund in its category charges. Broad, cheap, heavily traded, and it pays monthly.

Stated mandate

MANI The Fund seeks current income, while capital growth is secondary.

USHY The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds.

Why people hold it

• MANI Actively run with a clear hierarchy: current income first, capital growth second. No index to shadow, so the manager can move around the credit market.
• Pays income quarterly, with the prospectus committing to distributions at least annually.
• Plain 1940 Act fund structure: ordinary 1099 tax reporting, no K-1 to wait on.
• Its price swings so far sit among the steadier in the high yield group, though that read comes from a short history.

• USHY Charges 0.08% a year while the median high yield fund in its cohort runs 0.40%. Cheap rent on an expensive-to-run corner of the bond market.
• Holds about 1,900 bonds against the ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index: the broad market, not a curated slice of the most liquid names.ishares.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund and one of the more actively traded in high yield, which tends to keep bid-ask spreads thin even on busy days.
• Pays monthly and has tracked its index tightly since its 2017 launch, one of the closer index matches in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• MANI The fee is 0.85% a year, roughly double the typical high yield ETF, and index heavyweights like SPHY, USHY and SCYB charge a small fraction of that.
• A 2025 launch that is still small and thinly traded, so bid-ask spreads can be wide and every order moves a bigger share of the day's volume.
• Nothing here is on autopilot. Results hang on the manager's credit selection, and the fund has not yet seen a full credit cycle.

• USHY High yield means below-investment-grade borrowers. When credit gets stressed this asset class drops with stocks instead of cushioning them.
• Cheaper tickets sit on the same shelf: SCYB at 0.03% and SPHY at 0.05%.
• This is a fund, not a bond ladder. No maturity date hands your principal back; the basket rolls on indefinitely.

Full MANI profile⁠

Full USHY profile⁠