FLGB vs IZRL

FLGBAFranklin FTSE United Kingdom ETF

IZRLCARK Israel Innovative Technology ETF

In short

FLGB Britain in one ticker for nine basis points. Franklin's UK tracker follows a capped FTSE index of roughly 110 British companies and charges a small fraction of what the typical index fund in its peer group costs.

IZRL ARK's odd one out. Instead of Cathie Wood's team picking stocks, IZRL follows a rules-based index of Israeli-incorporated innovators, equally weighted so the small names carry the same load as the household ones.

Stated mandate

FLGB The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the FTSE UK RIC Capped Index.

IZRL IZRL seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the ARK Israeli Innovation Index. The index targets exchange-listed Israeli companies whose operations pursue disruptive innovation across genomics, health care, biotechnology, industrials, manufacturing, the Internet, and information technology.

Why people hold it

• FLGB 0.09% a year, a fraction of the median fee across the index trackers we grade. Cheap is the whole pitch for single-country beta, and this one delivers it.
• One trade, roughly 110 UK companies. A passive, rules-based mandate tied to the FTSE UK RIC Capped Index, running since its 2017 launch.
• Stands in the top quartile of its plain-index-wrapper peer group, and the mandate data behind that read is high confidence.

• IZRL Runs on published rules, not conviction calls: it tracks the ARK Israeli Innovation Index, which screens for companies incorporated or domiciled in Israel and listed in the US or Israel.sec.gov
• 0.49% a year, below the typical disruptive-innovation fund and level with peers like TRFM while undercutting FDTX.
• Equal weighting across roughly 80 stocks means no single giant sets the tone, and smaller Israeli tech names get real room in the basket.stockanalysis.comsec.gov
• A pure local read on Israeli innovation, spanning genomics, biotech, manufacturing and information technology, and trading in the US since its 2017 launch.

Worth knowing

• FLGB Single-country by design: UK listings only, so there is no cushion from other markets inside the fund. Broad global trackers like VT spread that bet differently.
• Moderately traded rather than a volume monster, so limit orders are the sane way in and out.
• Distributions arrive once or twice a year, not monthly. Income lands in lumps.

• IZRL Thinly traded and modest in size, so the gap between bid and ask can be wider than on the big innovation funds.
• One country, one theme. Israeli market moves, shekel swings and regional headlines land on this portfolio with nothing to offset them.
• Income is an afterthought here: distributions arrive once or twice a year, not monthly.

Full FLGB profile⁠

Full IZRL profile⁠