SPLB Beats SCHQ on Yield and 1-Year Return in Long-Duration Bond Showdown

Overview

• SPLB has led recent results with a 7.56% one-year total return and a 5.38% dividend yield, compared with SCHQ at 3.02% and 4.63%.
• SCHQ is slightly cheaper on fees at 0.03% versus 0.04% for SPLB, leaving costs near negligible for both funds.
• SPLB tracks a long-term corporate bond index and holds more than 3,000 investment-grade issues, which spreads issuer risk but adds corporate default exposure.
• SCHQ owns about 98 long-dated U.S. Treasuries with roughly 91% in government debt, which favors maximum credit safety and a cleaner hedge against stock sell-offs.
• Across five years, SPLB showed a smaller maximum drawdown and stronger growth of $1,000 than SCHQ, highlighting how higher coupon income can soften rate-driven price swings.