NXUS vs SCHZ

NXUSBNuveen International Aggregate Bond ETF

SCHZASchwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

NXUS Most "aggregate bond" ETFs stop at the US border. NXUS starts there: roughly 3,200 investment-grade bonds from developed and emerging markets, none of them in dollars, with the currency risk hedged back to USD monthly, for 0.08% a year.

SCHZ Schwab's core bond holding: the broad U.S. investment-grade bond market, over 10,000 issues deep, for 0.03% a year. That is the floor of a category whose median fee is more than ten times higher. Running since 2011, pays monthly.

Stated mandate

NXUS The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD (Hedged) Index. Its strategy may also use debt securities outside the Index, including asset-backed securities.

SCHZ The fund seeks to track the total return of an index representing the broad U.S. investment-grade bond market.

Why people hold it

• NXUS 0.08% a year, below the category median, and that is the real fare: gross and net fees are the same number, with no waiver propping it up.
• Roughly 3,200 bonds (sovereign, corporate, securitized) across about two dozen local-currency markets, developed and emerging. One of the broader portfolios in its peer group.sec.govsec.gov 2
• The index hedges its non-dollar exposure back to the US dollar monthly, so what you hold is foreign interest-rate exposure rather than a view on the dollar.sec.gov
• AGG, BND, SPAB and SCHZ each charge 0.03% and each stops at the US border. This is the ex-US half they leave out, and it pays monthly.

• SCHZ 0.03% a year sits at the category floor, against a cohort median of 0.36%. Only a short list of aggregate-bond funds matches it, including AGG, BND and SPAB.
• Tracks the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index tightly, one of the cleanest index implementations among the 187 funds in its peer group.schwabassetmanagement.com
• One ticker, thousands of investment-grade U.S. bonds, income paid monthly. The plumbing of a bond portfolio without buying a single bond yourself.
• Live since 2011 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so trading costs on ordinary retail-sized orders tend to be minor.

Worth knowing

• NXUS The hedge resets monthly, so dollar moves between reset dates flow through. Hedging dampens currency swings rather than removing them.sec.gov
• Investment grade only: the index excludes subordinated, convertible, floating-rate and inflation-linked bonds. No high-yield kicker.sec.gov
• It launched in September 2025, so the record is short, and it trades more lightly than the US core giants, which can show up in bid-ask spreads.

• SCHZ This is duration exposure, not a cash substitute. Interest-rate moves, not credit selection, drive most of the ride, and that is the weakest part of its risk profile.
• Investment grade and U.S. only: no high-yield, no foreign bonds. Funds like BNDX cover the international side of the cohort.
• The aggregate-bond aisle is commoditized. Against AGG, BND and SPAB at the same 0.03%, the differences come down to index variant and where you already custody, not fee.

Full NXUS profile⁠

Full SCHZ profile⁠