5 Best Short & Ultra Short Bond ETFs to Own Long-Term 1.6

  • Asset Category: U.S. Short Term Treasury / Short TermInvestment Grade Bonds

  • Long-Term Performance: 4.79% / 5.37% CAGR

  • Correlation to U.S. markets: -0.02 / 0.29

  • S&P 500 Performance (US Large Cap Blend): 11.05% CAGR

  • Back test timeframe: January 1983 – December 2022

  • Oldest ETF back tested: iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY)

  • Long-Term Performance: 1.62% CAGR

  • Correlation to U.S. markets: -0.22

  • S&P 500 Performance: 9.36% CAGR

  • Back test timeframe: August 2002 – December 2022

  • Number of ETFs available in this asset class: 99

  • Number of ETFs in this asset class that are 5-years old or older: 43

U.S. Short Term Treasury Bonds vs Short Term Investment Grade Bonds vs S&P 500: January 1983 – December 2022

SHY vs SPY: August 2002 – December 2022

SHY vs SPY: July 26, 2002 – January 27, 2023

The Deep Value ETF Accumulator rankings for the 43 oldest U.S. Short Term Treasury Bond & Short Term Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETFs: 

The 5 top ranked U.S. Short Term Treasury Bond & Short Term Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETFs head-to-head comparisons: 

JPST vs VCSH vs SPSB vs FLTR vs USTB: November 2017 – December 2022

JPST vs VCSH vs SPSB vs FLTR vs USTB: October 26, 2017 – January 27, 2022

Stated objectives of top 5 ranked U.S. Short Term Treasury Bond & Short Term Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETFs:

JPST – JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income ETF. Invests primarily in a diversified portfolio of short-term, investment-grade fixed- and floating-rate corporate and structured debt while actively managing credit and duration exposure.
Targets portfolio duration of less than one year; duration as of 9/30/22 was 0.27 years.

VCSH – Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF. Seeks to provide current income with modest price fluctuation. Invests primarily in high-quality (investment-grade) corporate bonds. Maintains a dollar-weighted average maturity of 1 to 5 years.

SPSB – The SPDR® Portfolio Short Term Corporate Bond ETF seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg U.S. 1-3 Year Corporate Bond Index (the “Index”). One of the low cost core SPDR Portfolio ETFs, a suite of portfolio building blocks designed to provide broad, diversified exposure to core asset classes. A low cost ETF that seeks to offer precise, comprehensive exposure to US corporate bonds that have a maturity greater than or equal to 1 year and less than 3 years. The Index includes investment grade, fixed rate, taxable, US dollar denominated debt with $300 million of par outstanding, and is market cap weighted and reconstituted on the last business day of the month.

FLTR – VanEck IG Floating Rate ETF (FLTR®) seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS® US Investment Grade Floating Rate Index (MVFLTR), which consists of U.S. dollar denominated floating rate notes issued by corporate issuers and rated investment grade.

USTB – VictoryShares USAA Core Short-Term Bond ETF. An income-oriented, core building block of a global diversified portfolio. Same experienced in-house team managing the USAA mutual funds. Average portfolio maturity of less than 3 years might decrease volatility when interest rates change. Actively managed fund offers potential to outperform its benchmark.

Thank you for taking time to read this article. If you found it useful, please share it with a friend.

Respectfully yours, Micah McDonald, aka the Deep Value ETF Accumulator

Disclosure: We currently own shares of JPST and intend to buy more shares in the future. I am not a professional investment advisor. Please perform your own due diligence or seek the advice of a Registered Investment Advisor before investing in any security mentioned in this article. This website contains affiliate links to M1 Finance and Google AdSense.