TOK vs VEA

TOKCiShares MSCI Kokusai ETF

VEAAVanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF

In short

TOK Most developed-markets funds cut out the US. TOK cuts out Japan instead: its index is developed-market equities everywhere but Japan, US included. A mirror-image mandate sitting in a shelf full of ex-US core funds.

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

TOK The Fund seeks to track the MSCI Kokusai Index, which represents developed-market equities outside Japan. It uses representative sampling and generally invests at least 80% of assets in securities or instruments tied to that index.

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

• TOK The rare index fund that subtracts Japan instead of the US. It tracks the MSCI Kokusai Index (Net), developed-market equities outside Japan, in one ticker.ishares.com
• Tracking has stayed close to the index, using representative sampling with generally at least 80% of assets in index securities or instruments tied to them.ishares.com
• Trading since 2007: a long iShares operating record behind an unusual mandate, in a plain 1940 Act stock fund with no derivatives machinery.

• 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

• TOK 0.25% a year is above the norm for index funds in this group, where ex-US core options like VEA, SCHF and SPDW charge single-digit basis points.
• Because the US stays in the index, it overlaps heavily with a US core position. This is a global-minus-Japan sleeve, not an ex-US diversifier.
• A small, thinly traded fund, so bid-ask spreads and order handling matter more here than with the category's giants. Distributions come once or twice a year.

• 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 TOK profile⁠

Full VEA profile⁠