Franklin U.S. Treasury Bond ETF

Franklin U.S. Treasury Bond ETF (FLGV) is an actively managed fund from Franklin Templeton. It holds mostly U.S. Treasury notes and bonds, and their average maturity was 7.9 years as of June 30, 2026. Its 0.09% expense ratio is close to the 0.10% average of similar Treasury funds, and it pays income monthly. It doesn't simply track an index. A manager picks the maturities and is allowed to use futures and swaps.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, FLGV returned -1.2%, 7th of 8 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was -0.5%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-11.6%); its best was 2025 (+6.3%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 15.2% (Aug 3, 2021 to Oct 19, 2023), not yet recovered.

As of Jun 30, 2026, the fund held 48 securities; the ten largest made up 57.01% of assets.

The bonds mature in 7.9 years on average (weighted by size), with an average coupon of 3.12%.

• Over the three months to Jun 30, 2026, investors added a net $30.3M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +0.01%, +0.08%, +0.25%.

FLGV does not track an index. Its managers at Franklin Templeton choose what to own, with the aim of earning income with a high degree of credit safety. In normal markets, at least 80% of net assets goes into direct U.S. Treasury debt or investments that give the same exposure. That includes bills, notes, bonds and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), whose principal adjusts with inflation. The fund can buy any maturity but mainly focuses on 1 to 30 years. Its prospectus compares results with the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Index and the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index.

The rules allow more than Treasuries. The fund may hold other government and agency debt. That includes mortgage-backed securities from Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, sometimes bought for future delivery in the "to-be-announced" market. It may also use Treasury futures and interest rate swaps to make the portfolio more or less sensitive to interest rates, which can add leverage. The managers may use quantitative models, and they may sell a bond they consider fully valued. Portfolio turnover was 24%.

In practice, the June 30, 2026 holdings were simple: 98.4% Treasuries across 48 issues, 0.9% cash and no derivatives. The largest position was a 4.125% note due October 2027, at 11.5% of assets, and the top 10 made up 57%. The average coupon was 3.12%.

• FLGV charges 0.09% a year, versus an average of 0.1% for the similar funds below (4th of 8, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $9 in the first year and $116 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It holds almost entirely U.S. Treasuries and has moved very little with stocks, but its intermediate maturities leave it exposed to rising interest rates.

FLGV could add high-credit-quality Treasuries that have moved mostly independently of stocks. Its beta, which measures how much a fund moves with the stock market, was 0.09 for the year to October 27, 2026. Price data starts in February 2021, so there is no record for 2008 or the 2020 crash. Rising rates hit the fund hard in 2022. It lost 11.54% that year, its worst calendar year, and needed about 40.5 months to recover from the decline, by February 2026. Its deepest drop was 15.2%, from August 2021 to October 2023, and it had not fully recovered as of October 27, 2026. Anyone selling shares for cash in a year like 2022 would have sold at a loss. Income has been steadier: the trailing 12-month yield was 4.26%, paid monthly, and costs run $9 a year per $10,000 in the SEC example. Past results don't predict future ones, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by bond funds with the closest average maturity and issuer mix (N-PORT).