GXUS vs VEU

GXUSBGoldman Sachs MarketBeta Total International Equity ETF

VEUAVanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF

In short

GXUS Goldman's plain-vanilla passport: one ticker for roughly 2,800 large and mid-cap companies outside the US, at 0.18% a year, about half the typical fee among its index-tracking international peers.

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

GXUS The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Solactive GBS Global Markets ex United States Large & Mid Cap Index.

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

• GXUS Charges 0.18% a year against a 0.35% median for its international index peer group. Half price for the same job.
• Tracks the Solactive GBS Global Markets ex United States Large & Mid Cap Index about as tightly as anything in this cohort, with almost no drift from the benchmark it promises.
• Roughly 2,800 holdings, so a single trade buys the large and mid-cap slice of the world outside the US rather than a curated handful of it.
• Sits in the upper half of its international cohort on our review, and distributions land quarterly.

• 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

• GXUS Thinly traded next to the category's household names. Spreads can widen, and limit orders are the usual tool for that.
• Cheap, but not the cheapest: VXUS runs 0.05% for a similar total-international mandate.
• Launched in 2023, so its record is short compared with ex-US index funds that have run for decades.

• 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 GXUS profile⁠

Full VEU profile⁠