SCHP vs TIPX

SCHPASchwab US TIPS ETF

TIPXBState Street SPDR Bloomberg 1-10 Year TIPS ETF

In short

SCHP Inflation insurance in the plainest wrapper available: SCHP owns the full maturity range of Treasury inflation-protected bonds and tracks its Bloomberg index for three basis points a year.

TIPX Inflation-linked Treasuries with the long end lopped off. TIPX tracks a Bloomberg index capped at 10-year maturities, keeping the CPI linkage without the price swings of the longest-dated bonds.

Stated mandate

SCHP The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of an index composed of inflation-protected U.S. Treasury securities.

TIPX The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg 1-10 Year U.S Government Inflation-Linked Bond Index.

Why people hold it

• SCHP 0.03% a year, a quarter of the typical Treasury-fund fee and level with the cheapest names in the group (VGIT, VCSH).
• One job, done literally: only inflation-linked US Treasuries, whose principal adjusts with the official consumer price index.
• Running since 2010, now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively and hugs the Bloomberg Series-L index closely.
• Passive, no maturity tilt, no manager view: one of the cleaner builds among Treasury ETFs.

• TIPX Maturities stop at 10 years, trimming the longest inflation-linked Treasuries (the ones that move most on rate shifts) while keeping the CPI linkage.ssga.com
• A plain index fund since 2013: one Bloomberg benchmark, State Street plumbing, a multi-billion-dollar asset base and moderate daily trading volume.
• Holds a few dozen US government inflation-linked bonds directly, so no corporate credit rides along with the inflation hedge.

Worth knowing

• SCHP Inflation-linked is not rate-proof. This spans the whole maturity spectrum, so prices move with real yields.
• Distributions are irregular. Coupons sit on an inflation-adjusted principal, so the cash arrives lumpy, not as a steady check.
• About 50 bonds, all Uncle Sam. No credit spread, no corporate yield pickup; inflation and duration are the whole story.

• TIPX The 0.15% fee sits above the typical Treasury-fund charge and well above broad TIPS options like SCHP at 0.03%. The maturity cap is what the extra buys.
• Distributions come on an irregular schedule and move with inflation adjustments, so this is not a steady, predictable income stream.
• Cutting the long end cuts both ways: less price movement from rate swings, but also less response when long-run inflation expectations shift.

Full SCHP profile⁠

Full TIPX profile⁠