SCHZ vs VCOB

SCHZASchwab U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

VCOBBVoya Core 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.

VCOB An actively managed take on the core bond aisle: investment-grade corporates, government and mortgage debt, run by Voya's bond team at a price that undercuts the typical fund in the category.

Stated mandate

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

VCOB The Fund is an actively managed ETF seeking total return through current income and capital appreciation. It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in bonds or bond-like derivatives, primarily including investment-grade corporate, government, and mortgage-related debt.

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.

• VCOB Active mandate, not an index clone: normally at least 80% of net assets in bonds, spanning investment-grade corporate, government and mortgage-related debt.
• Charges 0.25%, below the typical fund in its core-bond cohort, which is uncommon for an actively run strategy.
• Pursues total return from two directions, current income plus capital appreciation, inside a standard 1940 Act ETF wrapper.

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.

• VCOB Cheap for active, still dearer than the aisle's index heavyweights: BND, SPAB and SCHZ each charge 0.03%.
• Launched in late 2025, so there is little live record of how the managers navigate a full rate cycle.
• A small, lightly traded fund next to the category's household names, so bid-ask spreads are worth checking before trading.

Full SCHZ profile⁠

Full VCOB profile⁠