BND

The 10-year Treasury just hit levels not seen since 2007, and BND holders are sitting on years of losses. Whether that pain is a reason to sell or the best setup for bond buyers in a generation depends on one number most investors overlook.

VCIT targets intermediate corporate debt with 2,332 holdings, while BND spans 16,281 securities across government and corporate bonds. Both charge just 0.03% annually.

Both funds charge just 0.03% in expenses, but BND offers broader corporate and government bond exposure while VGIT focuses solely on U.S. Treasuries with lower volatility.

Vanguard's broader portfolio costs less to own and yields more, but iShares' focused Treasury approach delivers lower volatility and smaller drawdowns.

The Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF is currently offering its highest yield in nearly two decades.

BND has lost ground in price for five years straight, yet something has quietly shifted inside the fund that changes what the next five years could look like for anyone holding it today.

Vanguard's $398.9 billion fund charges just 0.03% annually versus Fidelity's 0.36%, while offering 16x more holdings for broader diversification.

Vanguard's BND carries a fee so small it barely registers, but the real bill waiting for taxable investors compounds quietly for decades before most people think to look at where they are actually holding the fund.

BND costs next to nothing to own, yet retirees holding it in a taxable account face a drag that makes the expense ratio look trivial by comparison. The culprit is not the fee at all.

California retirees comparing bond ETFs by headline yield alone could be leaving meaningful income on the table, and the culprit hides in plain sight inside a perfectly ordinary tax bill.

Your core bond fund may be paying you far less than it should while quietly losing ground in today's rate environment. A massive active ETF from BlackRock is doing the same job and then some, but the trade-off deserves a hard look before you make a move.