CWI vs VEU

CWIBState Street SPDR MSCI ACWI ex-US ETF

VEUAVanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF

In short

CWI Everything outside America in one ticker. Since 2007, CWI has tracked the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index, folding developed and emerging markets into roughly 1,100 stocks, at a price below the typical index tracker in its group.

VEU One ticker for everything outside America: roughly 3,800 stocks spanning developed and emerging markets, for 0.04% a year. Vanguard has run it since 2007, and it costs a fraction of what the typical international blend fund charges.

Stated mandate

CWI The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return performance of the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index while providing access to developed and emerging-market countries outside the United States.

VEU The fund seeks to track the investment performance of the FTSE All-World ex US Index, providing broad exposure to developed and emerging non-U.S. equity markets.

Why people hold it

• CWI Europe, Japan and emerging markets arrive in a single trade. No bolting an EM fund onto a developed-markets one to cover the map.ssga.com
• 0.30% a year, against a 0.45% median for its index-tracking peer group.
• It hugs the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index closely, one of the tighter tracking records in its peer group.
• Live since 2007 with a multi-billion-dollar asset base behind it, run by State Street's SPDR desk.

• VEU At 0.04% a year, it undercuts the typical international blend fund (0.28% median) and comes in below IXUS and VPL at 0.07%, never mind ACWX at 0.32%.
• About 3,800 stocks across developed and emerging markets outside the US. One line in your portfolio, most of the planet's listed companies behind it.vanguard.com
• Trading since 2007, now a multi-billion-dollar fund that changes hands actively, and it has stayed tight to its stated job of tracking the FTSE All-World ex US Index.
• One of the strongest builds in the international blend group: broad mandate, rock-bottom fee, steady index discipline.

Worth knowing

• CWI Cheap for its cohort, not at the floor. VT charges 0.06% for a whole-world portfolio, though that one keeps US stocks in the mix.
• Emerging markets ride in the same wrapper as Europe and Japan. That exposure comes as part of the package, with no dial to turn it down.ssga.com
• Distributions land once or twice a year, so income shows up in lumps rather than a monthly drip.

• VEU No US stocks, by design. This is the other half of a portfolio rather than the whole of one.vanguard.com
• Emerging markets come baked in, not bolted on. Hold a dedicated EM fund alongside it and you'll own some of the same names twice.
• Everything inside is priced in foreign currency, so exchange rates push returns around on top of what the stocks do. Income arrives quarterly.

Full CWI profile⁠

Full VEU profile⁠