SCHZ vs UITB

SCHZASchwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

UITBBVictoryShares Core Intermediate 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.

UITB Most core bond ETFs clone the Agg index for three basis points. This one is run by people: an active take on the intermediate investment-grade market, launched in 2017 under the USAA banner and flying Victory Capital's flag since 2019.

Stated mandate

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

UITB The Fund seeks high current income while limiting undue risk to principal. It invests mainly in debt securities and related instruments, with duration generally near that of the Bloomberg 1-3 Year Credit Index.

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.

• UITB Human-run, not index-bound: managers choose among Treasuries, corporates and mortgage bonds rather than owning whatever the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate benchmark weights dictate.vcm.com
• Roughly 1,100 bonds with an average maturity in the 3-to-10 year range. Core plumbing, not a bet on either end of the yield curve.vcm.com
• Cash goes out monthly, the cadence income-focused holders usually want from a bond sleeve.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund with a live record back to 2017, and the portfolio it actually holds lines up with the mandate its prospectus sets out.vcm.com

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.

• UITB It charges 0.38% a year while index peers BND, SPAB and SCHZ charge 0.03%. Active security selection is the thing you are paying that gap for.
• Intermediate maturities carry real interest-rate sensitivity: when yields rise, prices fall. This is not a short-duration parking spot.vcm.com
• Moderately traded rather than a volume giant, so spreads can widen in fast markets and limit orders do more work than market orders.

Full SCHZ profile⁠

Full UITB profile⁠