SPAB vs USTB

SPABAState Street SPDR Portfolio Aggregate Bond ETF

USTBBVictoryShares Short-Term Bond 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.

USTB An actively managed short-maturity credit fund from Victory Capital: roughly 800 bonds picked against a 1-3 year corporate credit benchmark, seeking high current income while preserving principal, paid out monthly.

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.

USTB The Fund seeks high current income while preserving 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.

• USTB Active by design: a team picks the bonds instead of copying an index, spreading roughly 800 positions and measuring itself against a 1-3 year corporate credit benchmark.vcm.com
• 0.34% a year, below the typical fee in its bond peer group. That is a low sticker price for active management.
• Short maturities blunt the price swings that hit long-dated bond funds, and this fund's risk profile is among the steadiest in its cohort.vcm.com
• Trading since 2017 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that distributes monthly. It previously ran as the VictoryShares USAA Core Short-Term Bond ETF.dividend.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

• USTB The index heavyweights in this cohort (BND, SPAB, SCHZ at 0.03%) cost roughly a tenth as much. The extra here pays for credit selection, not index tracking.
• This is short-term corporate credit, not Treasuries. Results lean on the team's issuer calls and on credit conditions, with no index to fall back on.vcm.com
• Moderately traded rather than a volume giant, so limit orders are worth the extra click.

Full SPAB profile⁠

Full USTB profile⁠