iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF (IBDT) holds investment-grade US dollar corporate bonds that mature in 2028. The fund itself is set to close on or about December 15, 2028, and pay its remaining assets to shareholders. That fixed end date makes it behave more like one bond than a typical bond fund. Its 0.10% expense ratio is below the 0.13% average of similar funds but above SPSB's 0.04%.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, IBDT returned +2.2%, 3rd of 8 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +1.4%.
• In the 2020 COVID crash it fell 17.8% and regained its old high 2.9 months after the low.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-11.4%); its best was 2019 (+15.2%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 17.8% (Mar 6, 2020 to Mar 20, 2020), recovered by Jun 15, 2020.

As of Jul 31, 2026, the fund held 728 securities; the ten largest made up 6.14% of assets, and 4.13% sat in cash and money-market holdings.

The bonds mature in 1.9 years on average (weighted by size), with an average coupon of 4.25%.

• Over the three months to Jul 31, 2026, investors added a net $250.5M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +0.30%, +0.15%, +0.19%.

IBDT tracks the Bloomberg December 2028 Maturity Corporate Index. The index starts with the broader Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Index. It keeps only fixed-rate bonds that mature between January 1 and December 15, 2028. Each bond must be investment grade, meaning rated BBB- or higher (Baa3 at Moody's): rating agencies judge these issuers likely to repay. Each bond also needs at least $300 million outstanding. Bonds are weighted by market value, and any one issuer is usually capped at 3%. BlackRock uses representative sampling, which means it buys a sample of bonds that together resemble the index instead of every bond.

As of July 31, 2026, the fund held 728 holdings. The largest were bonds from CVS Health (0.88%), Pfizer (0.70%) and Amgen (0.66%), and the top ten made up just 6.14% of assets. About 83% of assets were US issuers, and most of the rest came from Canada, Japan and the UK.

The index is updated monthly until its last rebalance on June 30, 2028. After that, the only change is removing bonds cut below investment grade. As bonds mature, the money is held as cash. Cash was 4.13% of assets as of July 31, 2026. The fund closes on or about December 15, 2028 and pays out what remains. It does not promise a set amount, and it is not designed to protect against inflation.

• IBDT charges 0.1% a year, versus an average of 0.13% for the similar funds below (6th of 8, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $10 in the first year and $— over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It spreads a known-date pool of money across hundreds of investment-grade bonds that pay out around December 2028, and with an average maturity of 1.9 years, its price moved only modestly over the past year.

IBDT could hold money set aside for spending around late 2028. It pays income monthly, and its trailing 12-month yield was 4.44% as of October 27, 2026. It launched in September 2018, so it has no record from 2008. In the 2020 COVID crash it had its deepest drop: it fell 17.8% between March 6 and March 20, 2020, and recovered by June 15. The 2022 rate shock took longer to repair. A 14.7% fall did not fully recover until September 5, 2024, and 2022 was its worst year, with a loss of 11.51%. Anyone forced to sell in such a stretch would have locked in losses. Price swings tend to shrink as maturity nears (1.9 years on average as of July 31, 2026), but the yield may drift toward money market rates near the end. Costs run about $10 a year on $10,000. Past results don't predict the future, 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).