IDEV vs VEA

IDEVAiShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF

VEAAVanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF

In short

IDEV One ticker for the developed world outside America, top to bottom: roughly 2,300 large, mid and small caps for four basis points. iShares built this as a Core building block and priced it like one.

VEA Everything developed outside the US in one line item: roughly 3,900 stocks across Canada, Europe and the Pacific, small caps included. Vanguard has run it since 2007 at three basis points.

Stated mandate

IDEV The fund seeks to track an index of large-, mid-, and small-cap equities from developed markets outside the United States.

VEA Seeks to track the FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Index through an indexing strategy investing substantially all assets in the index’s large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks across Canada, Europe, and the Pacific region.

Why people hold it

• IDEV Charges 0.04% a year while the typical developed-markets core fund charges 0.18%. That is roughly a fifth of the usual freight.
• Goes all-cap, not just blue chips: roughly 2,300 large, mid and small companies from developed markets outside the US, so the small end is not left on the cutting room floor.ishares.com
• A plain index wrapper on the MSCI World ex USA IMI Index. No tilts, no manager discretion, and it has run that same mandate since 2017.
• Multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the stronger implementations in a crowded developed-markets core group.

• VEA Charges 0.03% a year against a 0.18% median for its peer group. Low cost is the whole point of index exposure, and this sits at the cheap end of it.
• The index reaches down to small caps and keeps Canada in, so you own about 3,900 companies across Canada, Europe and the Pacific, not just the mega-cap layer.vanguard.com
• Tracks its FTSE benchmark closely and trades in heavy volume, which keeps the spread to get in or out slim, whether the order is small or institutional.
• Live since 2007 and one of the largest international stock funds on the market. Distributions come quarterly.

Worth knowing

• IDEV VEA, SPDW and SCHF each run a basis point cheaper. Pennies on most balances, but IDEV is not the absolute cost floor of the group.
• Distributions come annually or semiannually rather than monthly, so cash arrives in lumps.
• Every holding is priced in a foreign currency, so moves in the dollar show up in your returns alongside the stocks themselves.

• VEA Developed markets only, and no US stocks. Emerging markets and the home market sit outside the mandate entirely.vanguard.com
• The 0.03% fee is matched, not owned: SPDW and SCHF price the same and IDEV is a hair above. The separator here is index construction, not cost.
• Plain index exposure, no buffer or downside protection. Foreign markets and the small-cap sleeve can swing hard, and the fund holds the full ride.

Full IDEV profile⁠

Full VEA profile⁠