SPAB vs TPFI

SPABAState Street SPDR Portfolio Aggregate Bond ETF

TPFIDTimothy Plan Fixed Income ETF

In short

SPAB A 2007-vintage core bond fund priced at 0.03%: roughly 8,500 US investment-grade bonds in one ticket, at the same rock-bottom fee the household names charge for the same index.

TPFI Timothy Plan spent years screening stocks against biblical criteria. In 2026 it pointed that lens at bonds: an income-focused fixed income fund for investors who want their debt sleeve run by the same rulebook as their stocks.

Stated mandate

SPAB The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index before fees and expenses, providing broad exposure to U.S.-dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds.

TPFI The Fund seeks high current income while limiting undue risk to principal.

Why people hold it

• SPAB 0.03% a year against a 0.36% median for its peer group, and the same ticket price as AGG, SCHZ and BBAG on the identical index.
• Roughly 8,500 dollar-denominated investment-grade bonds in one line item, tracking the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. Diversification you could not assemble bond by bond.ssga.com
• Trades actively and has tracked its index closely, putting it among the stronger implementations in the core-bond group.
• Running since 2007, now a multi-billion-dollar fund, and it pays monthly rather than quarterly.

• TPFI The bond leg of a biblically screened lineup. Timothy Plan's equity ETFs date back to 2019; this one extends the same values-first approach to debt.timothyplan.com
• Plain mandate: at least 80% of assets in debt securities, aiming for high current income while limiting undue risk to principal.
• Fills the fixed income slot in a family that was all equity until 2026: large cap, small cap, international and high dividend funds.timothyplan.com

Worth knowing

• SPAB Bond prices move opposite yields. When rates rise the index falls and the fund follows it down; a 0.03% fee cannot cushion that.
• AGG, SCHZ and BBAG hold the same declared index at the same 0.03%. Picking among them comes down to spreads and platform, not the portfolio.
• Investment grade and US dollar only by mandate: high yield and foreign-currency debt sit outside the remit.ssga.com

• TPFI At 0.55% a year, it costs well above plain index aggregate bond funds such as BND, SPAB and SCHZ at 0.03%. Screening and hands-on management carry a price.
• A 2026 launch, so the track record is short and it trades in a fraction of the volume of the index bond giants, which can widen bid-ask spreads.
• Income lands on an annual or semiannual schedule rather than the monthly cadence many bond funds use.

Full SPAB profile⁠

Full TPFI profile⁠