Which returned more over the last year, IAU or SCHB?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and SCHB +13.4%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or SCHB?

SCHB is cheaper, by 0.22 percentage points a year. That is about $22 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

IAU vs SCHB: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and SCHB an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SCHB returned +13.4% against +2.7%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $44.6bn on Aug 31, 2026 for Schwab U.S. Broad Market ETF.

IAU on its own →SCHB on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+13.4%

SCHB total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.03%

SCHB expense ratio

Pair scorecard

SCHB costs 0.22 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 10.7 points.

IAU vs SCHB: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	SCHB
Return
Measure	IAU	SCHB
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+13.4%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	SCHB
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	SCHB
What it tracks	Gold	Dow Jones U.S. Broad Stock Market Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	SCHB
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.03%
Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and SCHB as of Aug 31, 2026	$60.1bn	$44.6bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	SCHB
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		88%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		33.7%

Method

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust SCHB Schwab U.S. Broad Market ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Schwab

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of US broad market

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +13.4%

Its benchmark over the same days +2.5% (GLD) not measured

Gap to its benchmark +0.2 pts vs GLD not measured

Expense ratio 0.25% 0.03%

Holdings not counted 2372

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and SCHB as of Aug 31, 2026 $60.1bn $44.6bn

IAU and SCHB on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Alert

About each fund

IAU

Its expense ratio is 0.25% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.

IAU holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.7% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

SCHB

SCHB tracks an index of US broad market. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings filed for Aug 31, 2026, 88% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,372 positions, with the top ten at 33.7%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or SCHB?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and SCHB +13.4%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or SCHB?: SCHB is cheaper, by 0.22 percentage points a year. That is about $22 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

IAU vs RDVY IAU vs SPYM IAU vs VTI IAU vs SPY SCHB vs SLV GLD vs SCHB SCHB vs SIVR SCHB vs USO

Where to next

IAU on its own →SCHB on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →SCHB dividend history →SCHB holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

SCHB filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

SCHB prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Schwab website ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, IAU against SCHB, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-schb

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