SCHZ vs TPLS

SCHZASchwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

TPLSCThornburg Core Plus Bond ETF

In short

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.

TPLS Thornburg's 2025 debut in the crowded aggregate-bond aisle, and it refuses to stay in the aisle: an active core-plus mandate that can wander into emerging market bonds, bank loans and structured debt, paying monthly.

Stated mandate

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

TPLS The fund invests in a diversified portfolio of fixed-income instruments, including emerging market bonds, bank loans, and loan participants.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• TPLS Core plus, and the plus is real: the mandate reaches past Treasuries and corporates into emerging market bonds, bank loans and loan participations.
• Pays income at least monthly, so coupons arrive on a steady rhythm rather than a quarterly lump.
• What it holds lines up closely with the wide-ranging mandate it advertises. No index-hugger wearing an active label.
• Plain 1940 Act fund structure: ordinary ETF plumbing, 1099 at tax time, no partnership paperwork.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• TPLS The 0.45% fee is active-manager pricing in a category where index anchors like BND and SPAB charge 0.03%. The roaming mandate has to earn that gap.
• Small and thinly traded, which tends to mean wider bid-ask spreads than the giants of the aggregate-bond group.
• Launched in 2025, so the record is short. Thornburg also discloses that distributions can include return of capital, meaning part of a payout may be your own money back.

Full SCHZ profile⁠

Full TPLS profile⁠