What Is SCHP? Schwab U.S. TIPS ETF

SCHP is the Schwab U.S. TIPS ETF, a passively managed bond fund that holds Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities across the full maturity range. It tracks the Bloomberg U.S. TIPS Index and is built to defend purchasing power: the principal of each TIPS bond adjusts with inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

Rather than aiming for growth, SCHP is a defensive, high-credit-quality holding. Because its bonds are issued by the U.S. Treasury, credit risk is minimal, and its distinguishing feature is the inflation linkage that helps investors hold their real spending power over time.

Approximate weights as of mid-2026; refresh quarterly from Schwab Asset Management's fund page. Each ticker links to its individual stock guide in Walnut.

SCHP holds a broad set of U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities spanning short maturities under five years, intermediate maturities of five to ten years, and long maturities beyond ten years. Because every position is a Treasury bond, the fund carries essentially no default risk.

The blend of maturities gives SCHP an intermediate average duration, which is what drives its sensitivity to interest rates. Its holdings and their inflation-adjusted principal values shift as the Treasury issues new TIPS and as inflation data updates, but the fund always stays fully invested in inflation-protected government debt.

SCHP's closest peer is iShares' TIP, which also holds the full TIPS maturity range and behaves almost identically, but SCHP is cheaper at 0.03%. For investors who want broad TIPS exposure, the lower fee is the main reason to prefer SCHP.

Vanguard's VTIP takes a different approach, holding only short-term TIPS. That gives VTIP much less interest-rate sensitivity and steadier prices, at the cost of less protection against longer-run inflation. The choice between SCHP and VTIP comes down to how much rate risk an investor is willing to accept in exchange for fuller inflation coverage.

As an index fund, SCHP aims to match the return of the U.S. TIPS market rather than beat it. Its results are driven by two forces: changes in interest rates, which move bond prices, and changes in realized and expected inflation, which adjust the principal of its holdings.

The outlook for SCHP is tied to the inflation and rate environment. When inflation surprises to the upside, TIPS tend to outperform nominal Treasuries; when rates rise sharply, the fund's intermediate duration can produce losses. Investors use SCHP to hedge inflation risk within the bond side of a portfolio.

Although TIPS remove credit risk and protect against inflation, they do not remove interest-rate risk. SCHP holds intermediate-to-long maturities, so when yields rise its price can fall, sometimes meaningfully, even in an inflationary period. This is the trade-off for holding longer-dated inflation protection.

The fund also depends on the gap between actual inflation and what the market already expects. If inflation comes in below expectations, TIPS can lag nominal bonds. Understanding both the rate sensitivity and the expectations dynamic is important before using SCHP as an inflation hedge.

SCHP trades on NYSE Arca and is available through major brokerages including Robinhood, Fidelity, Schwab, and Public. Most offer commission-free trades and fractional shares, so you can invest a set dollar amount rather than buying whole shares. Because TIPS distributions can be taxed on inflation adjustments, many investors hold SCHP in tax-advantaged accounts.

To track SCHP alongside your investment thesis and other positions, you can connect your brokerage to Walnut. Walnut mirrors your holdings read-only and lets you place SCHP inside a thematic basket, while any actual trades continue to run through your own broker.

SCHP is one of the cheapest ways to own the whole U.S. TIPS market in one ticker. Its inflation-linked payouts help defend real spending power, but its longer average maturity makes it sensitive to interest-rate moves. It fits as an inflation-hedging sleeve within the bond portion of a portfolio.

Whether SCHP is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is SCHP a buy?

SCHP yields ~4.0% as of mid-2026, paid by passing through the dividends of its underlying holdings. For the payout schedule, history, and how the distributions are taxed, see SCHP dividend: yield and schedule.