iShares Core 1-5 Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core 1-5 Year USD Bond ETF is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) from iShares, traded under the ticker ISTB (ISIN US46432F8591). One trade buys a whole basket of holdings, so your money is spread out instead of riding on a single company. In plain terms it is about lending to governments and companies in return for regular interest, which tends to be steadier than shares but grows more slowly, spread across its target market. Funds like this are often used as the steadier, lower-swing part of a portfolio — the ballast that cushions the ups and downs of shares. Its ongoing charge (TER) is 0.06% a year — about €6 a year on a €10,000 holding, taken automatically from the fund. It holds the underlying investments directly (physical replication). Its price has swung about 2.2% over the past year, which describes how much its price tends to move rather than whether it is good. It launched in 2012. As with any investment, its value can go down as well as up, and past performance is not a guide to future results. (Fund data sourced from iShares.)