AAXJ vs VPL

AAXJCiShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan ETF

VPLAVanguard FTSE Pacific ETF

In short

AAXJ The regional Asia trade with Japan carved out: roughly 900 large- and mid-cap stocks from developed and emerging markets, in one ticker since 2008. You pay up for that precision.

VPL Vanguard's scalpel for the developed Pacific: Japan, Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand, down to small caps, for 0.07% a year. Asia-Pacific without Europe bolted on, running since 2005.

Stated mandate

AAXJ The fund tracks an index of large- and mid-cap equities from developed and emerging Asian countries, excluding Japan, providing regional international equity exposure.

VPL VPL seeks to track the FTSE Developed Asia Pacific All Cap Index, targeting Pacific-region common stocks through passive full replication.

Why people hold it

• AAXJ One ticket, roughly 900 large- and mid-cap Asian stocks, spanning both developed and emerging markets under a single index rulebook.
• Running since 2008 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part.
• Japan sits outside the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan index by design, leaving investors free to size Japan exposure on their own terms.

• VPL Costs 0.07% a year, roughly a quarter of the 0.28% median in its international-blend group and well under broad rivals like ACWX at 0.32%.vanguard.com
• Full replication, all-cap: roughly 2,400 stocks held in index weight, small caps included, rather than a large-cap sample of the region.vanguard.com
• Trading since 2005 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that has tracked its benchmark tightly, one of the stronger implementations in its peer group.
• FTSE's developed Asia Pacific map includes South Korea, so Korean names sit alongside Japanese and Australian ones in the same index.bogleheads.org

Worth knowing

• AAXJ At 0.72% a year, the fee runs well above the 0.28% typical of its peer group and far above broad international index funds like IXUS at 0.07%.
• Emerging Asian markets are baked into the mandate, so currency moves and local market swings ride along with the developed-market names.
• Cash comes back once or twice a year rather than monthly.

• VPL Six developed markets, full stop. No Europe and no emerging Asia, so China, Taiwan and India sit outside the mandate.bogleheads.org
• Japan is the region's largest market and the fund's heaviest weight, and currency is unhedged, so Japanese equities and yen moves shape a lot of the ride.vanguard.com
• One region means bumpier ground than a global fund; it doesn't cover developed ex-US or all-world markets the way VEU or IXUS do.

Full AAXJ profile⁠

Full VPL profile⁠