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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLF +7.6%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or XLF?

XLF is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 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 XLF: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and XLF an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, XLF returned +7.6% against +2.7%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $51.6bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF.

IAU on its own →XLF on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+7.6%

XLF total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.08%

XLF expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLF costs 0.17 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 4.9 points; IAU is 1.2 times larger.

IAU vs XLF: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	XLF
Return
Measure	IAU	XLF
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+7.6%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	XLF
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026	3.8%, high on Sep 3, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	XLF
What it tracks	Gold	Financial Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	XLF
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$60.3bn	$51.6bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	XLF
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		57.4%

Method

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust XLF State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of Financials

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +7.6%

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% 0.08%

Holdings not counted 77

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLF as of Oct 27, 2026 $60.1bn $51.6bn

IAU and XLF 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.

XLF

XLF tracks an index of Financials. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +7.6% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.08% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 77 positions, with the top ten at 57.4%. It sat 3.8% below its high of Sep 3, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or XLF?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLF +7.6%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or XLF?: XLF is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

IAU vs KRE IAU vs XLE IAU vs VNQ IAU vs XLP SLV vs XLF USO vs XLF SIVR vs XLF BWET vs XLF

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

XLF filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLF prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

State Street website ↗

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

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

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

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Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.