STPZ vs VTP

STPZCPIMCO 1-5 Year U.S. TIPS Index Exchange-Traded Fund

VTPAVanguard Total Inflation-Protected Securities ETF

In short

STPZ Inflation protection on a short leash. STPZ indexes only TIPS maturing in one to five years, pairing CPI-linked principal with less rate sensitivity than long-dated linkers. It has worked this niche since 2009, at a fee above the category norm.

VTP Vanguard's ETF answer for the whole TIPS curve. It tracks a market-value-weighted index of Treasury inflation-linked bonds with at least a year left to run, charges five basis points, and opened for business in 2025.

Stated mandate

STPZ The Fund seeks total return that closely tracks its specified U.S. inflation-linked Treasury index before fees and expenses. It uses indexing and representative sampling rather than trying to outperform the index.

VTP The Fund passively tracks the full market of U.S. Treasury inflation-protected public obligations through the ICE U.S. Treasury Inflation Linked Bond Index.

Why people hold it

• STPZ The benchmark holds Treasury inflation-linked bonds maturing in one to five years: you get the CPI adjustment to principal without the price swings of 20-year linkers.yahoo.com
• Straight indexing. PIMCO uses representative sampling to track the benchmark rather than trying to beat it, so the name on the tin is what you own.pimco.com
• Live since 2009 and moderately traded, so ordinary retail-size orders in a niche corner of the Treasury market usually don't have to hunt for a counterparty.

• VTP Five basis points: under half the typical fund in its Treasury peer group, and well below the 0.12% charged by broad TIPS rival SPIP.
• Full-curve coverage. The index is market value weighted and takes inflation-protected Treasuries with at least one year to maturity, no upper limit, so no single maturity slice bet.ice.com
• Vanguard's other inflation-linked ETF stops below five years to maturity. This one is the long-end-included sibling, in the same low-cost index wrapper.vanguard.com
• The inflation link sits inside the bonds, not in a strategy overlay: principal and coupons are indexed to consumer prices, and the fund passes income through quarterly.vanguard.com

Worth knowing

• STPZ Cost is the trade-off: 0.20% a year, above the 0.12% typical of Treasury bond ETFs, while index peers such as SCHP and VGIT charge 0.03%.
• Distributions are irregular. TIPS income moves with inflation accruals, so payouts arrive unevenly rather than as a level check.
• Narrow by design: roughly two dozen short-dated government bonds. No corporate credit, no long end, so it behaves nothing like a core bond holding.

• VTP Owning the long end cuts both ways. Real-rate moves hit a full-maturity TIPS portfolio harder than a sub-five-year one, so expect more price movement.ice.comvanguard.com
• A 2025 launch means a short track record and thinner trading than the long-established TIPS funds, which can show up as wider bid-ask spreads.
• Payouts move with inflation adjustments rather than a fixed rate, and Vanguard discloses that a distribution can include return of capital.vanguard.com

Full STPZ profile⁠

Full VTP profile⁠