MYCH vs VBCA

MYCHDState Street My2028 Corporate Bond ETF

VBCAAVanguard Target Maturity 2027 Corporate Bond ETF

In short

MYCH Most bond-ladder rungs are index trackers. MYCH is a rung with a driver: an actively managed basket of corporate bonds maturing in 2028, paying monthly, then handing back remaining principal and closing around December 15, 2028.

VBCA Vanguard showed up late to the bond-ladder aisle and priced it accordingly: one rung of investment-grade corporate bonds, all maturing in 2027, wrapped in an ETF at 0.08%.

Stated mandate

MYCH The fund uses an actively managed target-maturity strategy focused primarily on corporate bonds maturing in 2028. It seeks current income and capital preservation and is intended to distribute remaining principal and liquidate around December 15, 2028.

VBCA The fund seeks to track a market-weighted index of U.S.-dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds that mature in 2027.

Why people hold it

• MYCH Active, not index-fed. State Street's MyIncome suite arrived in 2024 as the first actively managed corporate target-maturity ETFs, choosing sectors and issuers by hand.ssga.comstatestreet.com
• Behaves like a bond, trades like a fund: roughly 400 corporate bonds, monthly distributions, and a built-in end date instead of a perpetual portfolio.
• Sits in the upper half of a crowded target-maturity field, and it is one of the easier rungs of its size to get in and out of.

• VBCA At 0.08%, it undercuts the target-maturity norm, where iShares iBonds and Invesco BulletShares rungs run 0.10%.
• Its bonds are scheduled to mature between January 1 and December 15, 2027, and the index has a planned liquidation around that date, so duration winds down instead of resetting forever.sec.gov
• Market-weighted and investment-grade only: a single maturity year spread across the US corporate market rather than a handful of hand-picked bonds.
• Stands among the stronger implementations in a crowded target-maturity group, on cost and portfolio discipline.

Worth knowing

• MYCH Active management costs more: 0.15% a year against 0.10% at index rungs like IBDU and BSCT, and 0.08% at Vanguard's VBCB.
• The end date cuts both ways. Cash comes back around December 15, 2028, so replacing that rung of the ladder is on you.ssga.com
• Launched September 2024, so the track record is short, and results hinge on manager judgment rather than a rules-based index.

• VBCA Launched in 2026 and still small, it trades thinly; spreads can be wider than on established bond ETFs.
• Corporate credit, not Treasuries: downgrades and defaults come with the territory. Treasury-only rungs such as IBTJ sidestep that risk.
• Short operating history, so there is limited data so far on how closely it tracks its index.

Full MYCH profile⁠

Full VBCA profile⁠