UYLD vs VUSB

UYLDCAngel Oak Ultrashort Income ETF

VUSBAVanguard Ultra-Short Bond ETF

In short

UYLD Angel Oak's ultrashort fund comes out of a securitized-credit shop, not a bill ladder: active, roughly 500 bonds, average maturity kept under two years and duration under one year, for 0.35% net of a waiver through September 30, 2027.

VUSB Vanguard's first actively managed bond ETF, run by its in-house fixed income team and priced at 0.10%. It holds investment-grade paper maturing inside two years: a step past a money fund, well short of a real bond fund.

Stated mandate

UYLD The Fund seeks current income while aiming to limit price volatility and preserve liquidity. Its portfolio is managed to maintain a dollar-weighted average maturity below two years and duration below one year.

VUSB The fund seeks current income with limited price volatility while investing in diversified high- and medium-quality fixed-income securities. It expects to maintain a dollar-weighted average maturity of 0–2 years.

Why people hold it

• UYLD The mandate is specific: dollar-weighted average maturity below two years, duration below one year, aiming at current income while limiting price swings and preserving liquidity.
• Angel Oak built its business in securitized credit and runs this as one of its actively managed bond ETFs, a specialist lane rather than a Treasury bill tracker.businesswire.com
• Roughly 500 positions, monthly distributions, and over a billion dollars in assets: real breadth and scale for an actively run short-duration credit sleeve.

• VUSB At 0.10%, it costs half the typical ultra-short bond ETF and undercuts the other leaders in the group: SHV, PULS, FLDR and DUSB all charge 0.15%.
• Active, not adventurous. The managers buy investment-grade bonds (A3-or-better high quality plus BBB-tier medium quality) and hold average maturity to zero-to-two years.vanguard.com
• Income lands monthly, sourced from roughly 170 bonds, so no single issuer drives the outcome.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and the same portfolio team also runs a similar Vanguard ultra-short fund.vanguard.com

Worth knowing

• UYLD Cost is the trade-off: 0.35% net of a waiver through September 30, 2027 (0.56% gross), above the category median, while bill funds like VBIL at 0.06% and CLIP at 0.07% undercut it.
• The objective aims to limit price volatility, not remove it. This is active credit rather than Treasury bills, so the share price can move more than a pure bill fund's.businesswire.com
• In a peer group crowded with ultra-cheap bill trackers, it sits in the lower half of the field, mostly on price rather than on how it runs the portfolio.

• VUSB This is not a money market fund. No fixed $1 share price, and the market price can trade above or below the value of the holdings.vanguard.com
• The mandate allows BBB-tier credit, a notch of risk a Treasury-only neighbor like SHV doesn't take.vanguard.com
• Bonds this short reprice with short-term rates, so the monthly payout drifts up and down instead of holding a set level.vanguard.com

Full UYLD profile⁠

Full VUSB profile⁠