IEFA vs VEA

IEFAAiShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF

VEAAVanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF

In short

IEFA Developed markets outside the US and Canada, right down to the small caps: roughly 2,600 stocks for 0.07% a year. The category's workhorse, and one of the biggest, most heavily traded funds on the shelf.

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

IEFA The fund seeks to track an index of large-, mid- and small-capitalization developed-market equities outside the United States and Canada.

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

• IEFA Charges 0.07% a year, against a 0.18% median for its developed-markets index peers.
• The index reaches past large and mid caps into small caps, so you hold roughly 2,600 names across Europe, Japan and Australasia, not just the blue-chip layer.ishares.com
• Trading since 2012 and now one of the largest and most actively traded funds in its group, which usually means a deep pool of buyers and sellers.
• Sticks tightly to its stated mandate: a plain index wrapper on MSCI EAFE IMI, no active tilts hiding under the hood. Among the stronger builds in its peer 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

• IEFA Not the cheapest option: VEA, SPDW and SCHF each run 0.03%. The few extra basis points buy the EAFE index and its small-cap reach.
• EAFE stops at developed markets and leaves out Canada, so a full international sleeve needs emerging markets (and Canada) from somewhere else.
• Distributions arrive once or twice a year rather than monthly or quarterly.

• 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 IEFA profile⁠

Full VEA profile⁠