⚖️ TLT vs IEF Comparison · Free & No Signup

TLT vs IEF: The Only Difference Is How Long You Wait

Both hold US Treasuries, both come from iShares, both charge 0.15%. TLT buys bonds maturing in 20 years or more, IEF buys 7 to 10 year notes. That single choice decides how hard each one moves when rates change.

🔬 Compare top 10 holdings → 💡 Plain-English verdict

🤝 BFF Take

Same Credit, Same Fee. You Are Choosing Interest-Rate Sensitivity.

TLT (iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF) and IEF (iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF) are the same product in every way that usually separates two funds. Identical issuer, identical 0.15% expense ratio, and identical credit, since both hold obligations of the US Treasury and neither carries meaningful default risk. What differs is maturity, and through it duration, which is the measure of how much a bond price moves when yields move. TLT holds the long end, so a one percentage point change in yields moves it far more than the same change moves IEF. That works in both directions and is the entire reason to prefer one over the other. TLT is the instrument people reach for when they want a position on rates falling, and it is also the one that fell hardest when rates rose. IEF gives a materially smaller version of the same exposure. Neither is a cash substitute: for that, the shorter end of the curve is a different conversation, covered in SGOV vs BIL.

📋 Quick Takeaways

⏳TLT holds Treasuries maturing in 20+ years, IEF holds 7 to 10 year notes; that maturity gap is the whole comparison

⚖️Identical 0.15% expense ratio and identical US Treasury credit, so fee and default risk are not deciding factors here

📉Longer duration cuts both ways: TLT gains more when yields fall and loses more when they rise, which is why its recorded beta sits near -0.15

Both funds trade commission-free at every major brokerage. How the major brokerages compare →

✓ Reviewed by a CFA® Charterholder · Data as of Aug 30, 2026 · Educational only, not financial advice

TLT

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

Expense Ratio

0.15%

1-Year Return

-4.0%

AUM

$41.5B

Holdings

IEF

iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF

Expense Ratio

0.15%

1-Year Return

-3.0%

AUM

$47.2B

Holdings

📋 TLT vs IEF: Key Facts Side by Side

Metric	TLT	IEF
Fund Name	iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF	iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF
Issuer	iShares	iShares
Tracks Index	ICE US Treasury 20+ Year	ICE US Treasury 7-10 Year
Expense Ratio	0.15%	0.15%
Cost per $10K/yr	$15.00	$15.00
AUM	$41.5B	$47.2B
Holdings	40	12
Inception	2002	2002
1-Year Return	-4.01%	-3.04%
3-Year Return	-0.26%	+3.59%
5-Year Return	-7.77%	-1.52%
Dividend Yield	4.75%	3.96%
Holdings Overlap	See holdings overlap →
Avg Bid-Ask Spread	0.00%	0.00%

Expense ratio, AUM, and returns updated Aug 30, 2026 from ETF BFF database. Returns are annualised. Not investment advice.

📊 TLT vs IEF: Annualised Returns

Annualised returns (trailing, price-based). Past performance does not guarantee future results.

🎯 Which Fund Fits Which Investor?

Often fits investors who...

TLT

want broader diversification (40 holdings vs 12)
want income and stability with lower portfolio volatility

Often fits investors who...

IEF

want income and stability with lower portfolio volatility

💰 What the Fee Difference Actually Costs

Adjust the numbers for your situation. This models each fund's expense ratio compounding against your balance over time.

Investment amount$ Years held Expected annual return%

Assumes a constant annual return reinvested, with each fund's expense ratio deducted yearly. Illustrative only; actual returns vary. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

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❓ TLT vs IEF: Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between TLT and IEF?

Maturity, and nothing else that matters. TLT holds US Treasury bonds maturing in 20 years or more. IEF holds Treasury notes maturing in 7 to 10 years. Both are iShares funds, both charge 0.15%, and both hold obligations of the US government, so they carry the same credit. The longer maturities in TLT give it much higher duration, which means its price responds far more sharply to a change in interest rates.

Which is riskier, TLT or IEF?

TLT, if risk is measured as price movement. Neither carries meaningful credit risk, since both hold US Treasuries. The risk being taken in both is interest-rate risk, and TLT takes substantially more of it because its holdings mature much further out. When yields rise, TLT falls harder than IEF; when yields fall, TLT rises more. Describing TLT as a safe asset because it holds Treasuries confuses credit risk with price risk.

Is TLT a good place to hold cash?

It is not a cash instrument. TLT holds long-dated bonds whose price moves significantly with interest rates, so its value on any given day is uncertain in a way a cash holding is not. Funds holding Treasury bills at the very short end behave much more like cash, because a bill maturing in weeks barely moves on a rate change. SGOV vs BIL covers that end of the curve.

Do TLT and IEF pay monthly income?

Both distribute the interest their holdings pay, and ETF BFF records TLT at about a 4.5% yield against IEF at about 3.8%. That gap reflects where each sits on the yield curve rather than any difference in credit quality. The distribution is not fixed: it changes as the fund rolls maturing holdings into newly issued Treasuries at whatever rates prevail then.

Why does TLT sometimes fall when stocks fall?

Because the two do not always move opposite each other. Long Treasuries often rise during equity selloffs driven by growth fears, which is the behaviour that earned them a diversifier reputation. In a selloff driven by rising interest rates or inflation, both stocks and long bonds can fall together, and that is exactly what long duration exposes a portfolio to. A negative recorded beta describes an average relationship, not a guarantee about any particular week.

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