The Best iShares ETFs and BlackRock Funds
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With more than $11 trillion in assets under management, BlackRock is the largest asset manager in the world. Passive strategies make up about two thirds of those assets. In particular, the firm’s well-known iShares exchange-traded funds are low-cost solutions for both advisors and individual investors building well-diversified portfolios. The firm also offers some topnotch active bond funds and a compelling target-date series.
Morningstar’s list of the best iShares ETFs and BlackRock mutual funds to buy and hold in 2025 features top-rated funds that we expect to outperform their competitors over a full market cycle. Investors can confidently buy and hold these funds in a long-term portfolio.
Best iShares ETFs to Buy and Hold
These iShares ETFs investing in stocks or bonds earn a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Gold with 100% analyst coverage as of January 2025.
- iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF IXUS
- iShares Core S&P 500 ETF IVV
- iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF ITOT
- iShares Core Total USD Bond Market ETF IUSB
- iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF AGG
- iShares LifePath Target-Date Series
- iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF EFG
- iShares Total Return ETF BRTR
This list of top-rated iShares ETFs to buy and hold covers what many would consider the core building blocks of an investment portfolio: US stocks, US bonds, and international stocks. The firm also offers dozens of ETFs targeting more refined parts of the market, including a variety of style, market cap, sector, and global strategies. Some of these ETFs earn Morningstar Medalist Ratings of Silver or Bronze and may therefore be other strategies to consider beyond the top-rated ETFs included here.
Here’s a little bit about each of the best iShares ETFs on the list from Morningstar’s analysts.
iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF
- Morningstar Category: Foreign Large Blend
- Index: MSCI ACWI ex USA Investable Market Index
First on our list of the best buy-and-hold ETFs and funds for 2025, IShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF provides low-cost access to nearly every stock in the international market. Tracking the MSCI ACWI ex USA Investable Market Index, the ETF owns large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks weighted by market cap. Its low fee and superior diversification should shine through any short-term hiccups.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF.
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF
- Morningstar Category: Large Blend
- Index: S&P 500
IShares Core S&P 500 ETF provides exposure to US large-cap stocks at a low cost. The ETF replicates the S&P 500, which is a market-cap-weighted index of 500 of the largest US stocks that are chosen by an index committee based on liquidity and profitability standards. Management has done a good job of tracking its index, using derivatives to manage its cash, and employing securities lending to generate additional income to help keep the ETF’s expense ratio low.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of iShares Core iShares Core S&P 500 ETF.
iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Market ETF
- Morningstar Category: Large Blend
- Index: S&P Total Market Index
This iShares ETF to buy and hold in 2025 offers exposure to the entire investable US stock market. It tracks the S&P Total Market Index, which includes all US-domiciled stocks that trade on a major US exchange and pass S&P’s minimum liquidity threshold. Although iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Market ETF lands in the large-blend Morningstar Category, it provides exposure to small and midsize companies. That being said, the largest stocks in the US make up the bulk of this ETF’s portfolio due to the index’s market-cap weighting.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF.
iShares Core Total USD Bond Market ETF
- Morningstar Category: Intermediate Core-Plus Bond
- Index: Bloomberg US Universal Index
This iShares ETF for the long term casts a wide net by tracking the Bloomberg US Universal Index, which includes taxable bonds across the entire credit spectrum with at least one year until maturity. Because this index includes high-yield corporate bonds, dollar-denominated emerging-markets bonds, and other lower-quality credits, iShares Core Total USD Bond Market ETF takes on a bit more credit risk than its sibling; the fund lands in the intermediate core-plus bond category.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of iShares Core Total USD Bond Market ETF.
iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF
- Morningstar Category: Intermediate Core Bond
- Index: Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index
Morningstar analyst Zachary Evens says iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF’s “conservative portfolio and razor-thin expense ratio make it a compelling option.” It tracks the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index, which includes taxable, investment-grade US-dollar-denominated bonds with at least one year until maturity. The index is tilted toward the largest and most liquid US Treasuries, corporate bonds, and agency mortgage-backed securities. This buy-and-hold fund earns an Above Average Process rating for its effective representative sampling of its index.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF.
iShares LifePath Target-Date Series
- Morningstar Categories: Vary based on target dates
This is the ETF equivalent to BlackRock’s top-rated target-date series, and it is the only target-date strategy offered in an ETF vehicle for US investors. This format restricts the strategy from being used in a workplace retirement plan, where most target-date strategies garner their assets. Instead, it provides a strong option for investors using individual retirement accounts or supplementing their retirement savings in taxable accounts.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of the iShares LifePath Index Target-Date Series.
iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF
- Morningstar Category: Foreign Large Growth
- Index: MSCI EAFE Growth Index
Next on our list of the best iShares ETFs is iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF. The fund effectively captures most of the foreign large-growth opportunity set while charging a low fee. It’s also more diversified than most peers and enjoys low turnover. Sector and country exposures align with peers, although some slight differences arise from the exclusion of Canadian and emerging-markets stocks.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF.
iShares Total Return Active ETF
- Morningstar Category: Intermediate Core-Plus Bond
- Index: Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index
IShares Total Return Active ETF takes something from just about every corner of BlackRock’s bond complex, and uses a broad and complex toolkit to take advantage of various markets and earnestly manage risk. The strategy is a core-plus offering, meaning it can go beyond its Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index into below-investment-grade and emerging-markets debt.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of iShares Total Return Active ETF
Best BlackRock Mutual Funds for the Long Term
These BlackRock mutual funds investing in stocks, bonds, or some combination of the two have at least one share class that earns a Gold rating as of January 2025.
- BlackRock Global Allocation MALOX
- BlackRock High Yield BHYIX
- BlackRock LifePath Index Target-Date Series
- BlackRock Strategic Global Bond MAWIX
- BlackRock Strategic Income Opportunities BASIX
- BlackRock Technology Opportunities BGSIX
- BlackRock Total Return MDHQX
- iShares S&P 500 Index BSPGX
- iShares Short-Term TIPS Bond Index BKIPX
More than half the funds on the list of BlackRock funds invest in bonds entirely or partially, a longtime strength of BlackRock’s. Unlike with the firm’s iShares lineup, investors can’t as elegantly build a diversified core portfolio using only BlackRock’s Gold-rated mutual funds—though the firm’s LifePath Index Target-Date Series does offer investors excellent, well-diversified, one-stop vehicles for saving for retirement.
Here’s a little bit about each of the top-rated BlackRock mutual funds to buy for the long term on the list from Morningstar’s analysts.
BlackRock Global Allocation
- Morningstar Category: Global Allocation
BlackRock CIO of Fixed Income Rick Rieder has continued to update the strategy’s approach since he took over in 2019. The portfolio has become more concentrated and has shrunk to 80-120 names from more than 400. The stock selection focus has also shifted more toward companies with strong cash flows, like mega-caps Microsoft MSFT and Amazon.com AMZN.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of BlackRock Global Allocation.
BlackRock High Yield
- Morningstar Category: High-Yield Bond
This is the only fund from the high-yield bond Morningstar Category on our list of buy-and-hold ETFs and funds for 2025. BlackRock High Yield features a flexible approach that has generated an impressive long-term track record. Its investments in the market’s larger, more-liquid issues can make it challenging to express macro themes quickly in the cash bond market. The team aims to overcome some of those limitations by including sectors such as bank loans, collateralized loan obligations, investment-grade corporates, and even equities.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of BlackRock High Yield.
BlackRock LifePath Index Target-Date Series
- Morningstar Categories: Vary based on target dates
BlackRock’s top-rated target-date series is index-based and benefits from BlackRock’s robust approach to asset allocation and a research-intensive culture. The team overseeing the series has been exceptionally thoughtful, making forward-thinking changes that have improved outcomes for investors. Notably, the firm made a significant glide path change nearly a decade ago based on updated capital markets assumptions and studies into investor behavior. More recently, changes on the bond side should provide better diversification benefits.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of the BlackRock LifePath Index Target-Date Series.
BlackRock Strategic Global Bond
- Morningstar Category: Global Bond
BlackRock Strategic Global Bond, next on our list of the best buy-and-hold ETFs and funds for 2025, invests largely in higher-quality bonds across the globe. It benchmarks itself against the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond Index—though the managers can (and do) stray far from the index’s allocations. For example, emerging-markets exposure has been as low as 6% and as high as 75% of the portfolio, versus a 5%-8% range for the index. Here, too, Reider and the team balance macro positioning with valuation-driven moves.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of BlackRock Strategic Global Bond.
BlackRock Strategic Income Opportunities
- Morningstar Category: Nontraditional Bond
Rieder and his team also apply their blend of top-down macroeconomic research and bottom-up securities selection here—but this strategy is flexible and doesn’t seek to outperform a particular benchmark. Investments include but extend beyond US high-quality bonds into high-yield bonds, bank loans, and international developed- and emerging-markets sovereign and corporate debt. The team will use derivatives to hedge risk and take outright positions. It’s a wide-ranging strategy.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of BlackRock Strategic Income Opportunities.
BlackRock Technology Opportunities
- Morningstar Category: Technology
BlackRock Technology Opportunities is managed by an industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience analyzing technology firms. Lead manager Tony Kim and his team target firms with cutting-edge technology and interesting business models, working with a data scientist to compare data across industries. They balance larger-cap core stocks with smaller, more opportunistic holdings and will hold stocks that are technically outside of the tech sector, such as Amazon.com AMZN and Tesla TSLA.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of BlackRock Technology Opportunities.
BlackRock Total Return
- Morningstar Category: Intermediate Core-Plus Bond
BlackRock Total Return is essentially the same portfolio as its ETF counterpart, just in a different wrapper. Rieder and his colleagues determine the top-down elements of the strategy using an in-house framework emphasizing broad trends that will, in their view, typically last between two and four quarters, such as synchronized global growth.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of BlackRock Total Return.
iShares S&P 500 Index
- Morningstar Category: Large Blend
The first of two iShares-branded funds on the list of Gold-rated BlackRock mutual funds, iShares S&P 500 Index is essentially the same portfolio as its ETF counterpart, just in a different wrapper.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of iShares S&P 500 Index.
iShares Short-Term TIPS Bond Index
- Morningstar Category: Short-Term Inflation-Protected Bond
The second iShares-branded fund on this list is iShares Short-Term TIPS Bond Index. This fund invests mainly in US Treasury notes and seeks to beat the Bloomberg US Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities 0-5 Year Index. The strategy offers exposure to the short end of the curve, which correlates more closely with inflation than portfolios that include longer-term TIPS portfolios.
Read Morningstar’s full analysis of iShares Short-Term TIPS Bond Index.
How to Find Top iShares ETFs and BlackRock Mutual Funds
Of course, focusing only on ETFs and mutual funds that earn a Gold rating may be too limiting for some investors. Those who’d like to consider iShares ETFs and BlackRock mutual funds for the long term beyond those featured here can:
- Visit Morningstar’s asset-management company hubs for iShares and BlackRock. Once there, review lists of BlackRock’s mutual funds and iShares ETFs, and segment those lists by criteria such as stock or bond, and more.
- Build your own BlackRock mutual fund and iShares ETF screen using the Morningstar Investor Screener tool. Beneath Investment Type, choose either mutual fund or ETF; type BlackRock as the keyword for mutual funds or iShares as the keyword for ETFs. Then drill down further based on asset class, category, ratings, and other metrics that matter to you.
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