MUB vs RVNU

MUBAiShares National Muni Bond ETF

RVNUBXtrackers Municipal Infrastructure Revenue Bond Active 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.

RVNU Most muni ETFs buy whatever the tax-free market offers. RVNU takes one slice: revenue bonds behind things like water systems, toll roads and airports, indexed since 2013, for 0.15% a year.

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.

RVNU The Fund seeks investment results that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the Solactive Municipal Infrastructure Revenue Bond Index.

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

• RVNU Charges 0.15% a year, about half the typical muni ETF fee, for a focused revenue-bond mandate instead of a broad tax-free index.
• Pure play by design: its Solactive index points at municipal bonds repaid from project revenue rather than a state's general taxing power.
• Pays monthly, spread across about 300 US municipal bonds inside a plain 1940-Act ETF wrapper.
• Trading since 2013, long tenure for a niche muni strategy, and it lands in the upper half of its muni peer group.

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.

• RVNU A smaller, thinly traded fund, so limit orders and patient fills matter more here than with muni giants like MUB or VTEB.
• Broad muni index funds run near 0.03%. The extra cost here buys the infrastructure-revenue tilt, not wider coverage.
• Revenue bonds lean on income from specific projects, so credit risk rides on how those systems perform rather than on a government's taxing power.

Full MUB profile⁠

Full RVNU profile⁠