MUB vs MUST

MUBAiShares National Muni Bond ETF

MUSTBColumbia Multi-Sector Municipal Income ETF

In short

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.

MUST Most muni index funds just buy the market by size. MUST tracks a Columbia-built index that carves the tax-exempt market into five fixed slices, screens out tobacco bonds, territory paper and California debt, and pays monthly.

Stated mandate

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.

MUST The Fund is a passive ETF designed to track the Beta Advantage Multi-Sector Municipal Bond Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• 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

• MUST Costs 0.23% a year, below the typical muni bond ETF, for a rules-based build rather than a plain market-cap copy of the muni market.
• The index sets a fixed budget across five muni segments, including hospital debt and a standing high-yield sleeve, and reconstitutes monthly.sec.govsec.gov 2
• Screens out the messier corners: tobacco bonds, Puerto Rico and other territory paper, pre-refunded and insured bonds, and California debt.sec.govcolumbiathreadneedleus.com
• Spreads risk across roughly 600 bonds and pays income monthly.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• MUST You pay up for the rules: VTEB and MUB run the plain national muni index for a few basis points.
• The permanent junk-muni sleeve and the hospital-debt slice carry more credit risk than a plain investment-grade muni index.sec.gov
• A mid-size, moderately traded fund, so trading costs can run wider than the category's biggest names.

Full MUB profile⁠

Full MUST profile⁠