Interesting post. I would be interested to hear if the holdings of the FTSE index is a superset of those in the MSCI index — i.e., if all the FTSE index includes everything in the MSCI index, as well as some not in the MSCI index. If not, I would be curious as to why the MSCI has a company not included in the FTSE.
Interesting question Raman. The holdings of MSCI EAFE Index Funds is readily available. I was not able to find a holdings list for the FTSE index. I’ll try and obtain it and compare the two.
Small typo in last paragraph: “Though the FTSE Developed Markets ex North America Index has outperformed the MSCI Emerging Markets Index over the past 10 years”…
I wonder about tax implications if one owns one of these Vanguard ETFs prior to the change in index. Presumably there would be some shares sold and others purchased within the ETF so that it more closely resembles the new index.
The good news is that Vanguard says it does not expect any capital gains distributions from this change. However, there will be extra turnover, so trading commissions can be expected to be slightly higher next year.
[...] There’s been some changes lately, which is why the Canadian Capitalist wants you to know the Impact of Benchmark Change on Vanguard MSCI EAFE ETF (VEA). [...]
I don’t quite understand your question Pessimist. VEA will rebalance its portfolio to match the new index. The currency basket will change slightly but the effect vis-a-vis the Canadian dollar won’t be dramatically different than before.
On a return and cost basis, how has VXUS performed compared to VEA and VWO with the FTSE benchmark? I’m debating whether or not to go for one ETF that may have a small exposure to Canada or two ETFs, which are pure international.
Great analysis! As I was reading through some bigger concerns emerged in my mind in terms of implications for average investors specifically:
Concerns:
1)Do investors need an understanding of statistics along with financial accounting/investing principles? Most investors and clients I’ve worked with simply will not have the time or could be bothered to dig that deep into the composition of these type of ETF’s.
2) I’m concerned that most advisors will not drill down to this level for their clients.
3) How is this type of adjustment any different than a mutual fund that changes managers who has a different philosophy? Is the expectation that investors have to track the minutae of index construction and behaviour? That doesn’t sound like something that a passive/Potato investor would subscribe to. The basic strategy is to allocate portfolio to basic asset classes/broad indexes and rebalance 1-2 times per year. These types of “adjustment” force investors to monitor more closely than necessary.
3) The claim is the change will lower costs, but a lot of these ETF’s are priced aggressively in terms of costs (e.g. Vanguard’s are as low as 7bp). If they go lower, how do they make money?
Your doing a great service with your analysis and yes even if the difference in performance between the 2 indexes is about 13%, as you have commented in the past, it can add up pretty fast over the long term. It’s a nice chunk of change to leave on the table.
I’ve commented recently (http://www.sage-investors.com/Articles.articles.cfm) on how wary I’m becoming with ETF’s as the fund companies are putting a lot of marketing into promoting these funds which with their more active nature are becoming more like closet mutual funds with higher fees, yielding sub-par returns. The traditional vanilla based ETF’s which I’m totally a proponent of seem to be getting crowded out. In my time in the mutual fund industry, I’m seeing many of these elements with ETF’s than when I did at the peak of the mutual fund frenzy in the mid-late 90’s. I’m wondering if we are at or nearing a Jump The Shark moment with ETF’s?
Nice post CC. Bottom line, VEA will continue to be a great product for capturing market returns outside North America.
I think so. It is still worthwhile to find out how a mix of EM and DM markets would have returned. It will be the subject of a future post.
Interesting post. I would be interested to hear if the holdings of the FTSE index is a superset of those in the MSCI index — i.e., if all the FTSE index includes everything in the MSCI index, as well as some not in the MSCI index. If not, I would be curious as to why the MSCI has a company not included in the FTSE.
Interesting question Raman. The holdings of MSCI EAFE Index Funds is readily available. I was not able to find a holdings list for the FTSE index. I’ll try and obtain it and compare the two.
Small typo in last paragraph: “Though the FTSE Developed Markets ex North America Index has outperformed the MSCI Emerging Markets Index over the past 10 years”…
You meant MSCI EAFE Index.
@gsp: Thanks for pointing out the error. I’ve corrected it
I wonder about tax implications if one owns one of these Vanguard ETFs prior to the change in index. Presumably there would be some shares sold and others purchased within the ETF so that it more closely resembles the new index.
The good news is that Vanguard says it does not expect any capital gains distributions from this change. However, there will be extra turnover, so trading commissions can be expected to be slightly higher next year.
FYI the “in an earlier post” link links to this same post.
[...] Canadian Capitalist discussed the changes to Vanguard ETF – VEA. [...]
[...] There’s been some changes lately, which is why the Canadian Capitalist wants you to know the Impact of Benchmark Change on Vanguard MSCI EAFE ETF (VEA). [...]
Hi CC. I’m wondering how a currency change would affect VEA. Any pointers on reading that would explain that? Thanks.
I don’t quite understand your question Pessimist. VEA will rebalance its portfolio to match the new index. The currency basket will change slightly but the effect vis-a-vis the Canadian dollar won’t be dramatically different than before.
On a return and cost basis, how has VXUS performed compared to VEA and VWO with the FTSE benchmark? I’m debating whether or not to go for one ETF that may have a small exposure to Canada or two ETFs, which are pure international.
Great analysis! As I was reading through some bigger concerns emerged in my mind in terms of implications for average investors specifically:
Concerns:
1)Do investors need an understanding of statistics along with financial accounting/investing principles? Most investors and clients I’ve worked with simply will not have the time or could be bothered to dig that deep into the composition of these type of ETF’s.
2) I’m concerned that most advisors will not drill down to this level for their clients.
3) How is this type of adjustment any different than a mutual fund that changes managers who has a different philosophy? Is the expectation that investors have to track the minutae of index construction and behaviour? That doesn’t sound like something that a passive/Potato investor would subscribe to. The basic strategy is to allocate portfolio to basic asset classes/broad indexes and rebalance 1-2 times per year. These types of “adjustment” force investors to monitor more closely than necessary.
3) The claim is the change will lower costs, but a lot of these ETF’s are priced aggressively in terms of costs (e.g. Vanguard’s are as low as 7bp). If they go lower, how do they make money?
Your doing a great service with your analysis and yes even if the difference in performance between the 2 indexes is about 13%, as you have commented in the past, it can add up pretty fast over the long term. It’s a nice chunk of change to leave on the table.
I’ve commented recently (http://www.sage-investors.com/Articles.articles.cfm) on how wary I’m becoming with ETF’s as the fund companies are putting a lot of marketing into promoting these funds which with their more active nature are becoming more like closet mutual funds with higher fees, yielding sub-par returns. The traditional vanilla based ETF’s which I’m totally a proponent of seem to be getting crowded out. In my time in the mutual fund industry, I’m seeing many of these elements with ETF’s than when I did at the peak of the mutual fund frenzy in the mid-late 90’s. I’m wondering if we are at or nearing a Jump The Shark moment with ETF’s?
Best,
Twitter: @sageinvestors