FLAX vs VPL

FLAXBFranklin FTSE Asia ex Japan ETF

VPLAVanguard FTSE Pacific ETF

In short

FLAX One line item for Asia's markets with Japan left out: roughly 1,600 stocks at 0.19% a year, less than half the median fee among index-tracking peers. Broad, cheap, and thin to trade.

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

FLAX The Fund seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the FTSE Asia ex Japan RIC Capped Index.

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

• FLAX 0.19% a year against a 0.45% median for index-tracking peers. Less than half the going rate for the same passive job.
• About 1,600 holdings across Asia ex Japan. The index is a RIC-capped version, which limits how large any single position can grow.
• Plain passive mandate since 2018: match the FTSE Asia ex Japan RIC Capped Index before fees and expenses. No manager discretion, no style drift.

• 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

• FLAX Thinly traded, so on any single trip in or out the bid-ask spread can cost more than the annual fee. Limit orders are the usual tool.
• Cash comes annually or semiannually, not monthly. Income arrives in lumps.
• One region, Japan excluded. This is a regional equity slice that tracks Asian markets, not a global core holding.

• 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 FLAX profile⁠

Full VPL profile⁠