BBEM vs SCHK

BBEMCJPMorgan BetaBuilders Emerging Markets Equity ETF

SCHKASchwab 1000 Index ETF

In short

BBEM Emerging markets, wide and cheap: roughly 1,500 stocks for 0.15% a year, tracking a Morningstar emerging-markets index. JPMorgan's plumbing at a fraction of what the typical index wrapper charges.

SCHK Schwab's house-built alternative to the S&P 500: the 1,000 largest US companies in one passive wrapper, reaching past the mega-caps into mid-cap turf, priced at three basis points.

Stated mandate

BBEM The fund seeks broad exposure to emerging-market equities through an indexed approach, aiming to track the Morningstar Emerging Markets Target Market Exposure Index. It uses representative sampling to replicate the index.

SCHK The fund seeks to track the total return of the Schwab 1000 Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• BBEM 0.15% a year, against a 0.45% median for its index-wrapper peer group. That gap compounds quietly in a category where fees are usually the biggest controllable drag.
• About 1,500 stocks via representative sampling of the Morningstar Emerging Markets Target Market Exposure Index. Broad developing-world coverage, no single-country or single-theme bet.
• Sits in the upper half of its index-wrapper cohort on our review, helped by cost discipline and a clean, rules-based mandate. Distributions arrive quarterly.

• SCHK 0.03% a year, the lowest fee among the top-scoring funds in its index-wrapper group and a small fraction of what the typical fund there charges.
• About 1,000 stocks covering roughly 90% or more of US stock market value: the S&P 500 names plus a layer of mid caps most large-blend funds skip.schwabassetmanagement.com
• Tracks its stated index tightly and stands among the strongest implementations in its peer group of plain index wrappers.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively and pays distributions quarterly.

Worth knowing

• BBEM Thinly traded next to the category's household names, so bid-ask spreads can run wider. Matters most for large or hurried orders.
• Launched in 2023, so the track record is short compared with EM index funds that have been through multiple full cycles.
• Emerging-market equity is a bumpy ride: currency swings and country-level politics show up in the price, and this fund scores low on our risk measures.

• SCHK Weighted by market value, so the biggest US companies drive the bulk of results. Those extra 500 names carry less weight than the headcount suggests.schwabassetmanagement.com
• All-US, all-equity by mandate: no bonds, no foreign stocks, and it rides the full swings of the US market.
• The benchmark is Schwab's own proprietary index, so there is no rival fund on the identical yardstick for a side-by-side comparison.

Full BBEM profile⁠

Full SCHK profile⁠