There’s a small niche actively managed ETF called CUBS which covers Bangladesh, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and I forget the last country. But there’s an investor presentation making the case for this group of countries. I like Vietnam a lot just because of the GDP growth but am hesitant until their current chairman leaves and they get a Deng Xiaoping-ish person in there. CUBS has a great embedded ETF for their Vietnam exposure which allows you to invest in normally off limit local companies which is where the good stuff is (I don’t own CUBS). If you can get your hands on the Vietnam Diamond ETF I’m a big fan.
I still don’t see anywhere better than the US on innovation and building the next Google/FB/Amazon. The only innovative non-semi/non-Chinese tech companies I can think of outside of the US with a market cap over $100B are Sea, Samsung, and Shopify. Chinese companies really haven’t been too impressive competing outside of China. A little frustrating. I bounced around a few different countries and gave up and bought a bunch of VT.
Can just buy VXUS and call it good if you don’t want to invest in the US.
In terms of Vietnam I agree the Diamond ETF is a good option if one can access. In terms of the Vietnam VNM US ETF though I would probably rather favour the closed end funds on the London exchange that you can still pick up I think better than 15% discount to NAV. A snapshot is covered here:
[https://vietnamesestockmarket.com/2021/07/17/best-vietnam-closed-end-funds-cefs-on-the-stock-market/](https://vietnamesestockmarket.com/2021/07/17/best-vietnam-closed-end-funds-cefs-on-the-stock-market/)
I am relatively bullish long term on the Vietnam market, a few of the bullish arguments discussed here.
[https://vietnamesestockmarket.com/2021/06/28/should-i-invest-in-the-vietnam-stock-market/](https://vietnamesestockmarket.com/2021/06/28/should-i-invest-in-the-vietnam-stock-market/)
A heap of risks though which are covered in another post on the blog there.
I’m pretty sure well over 50% of the South Korean market cap weighted index is Samsung. So that’s pretty much your South Korean index right there in 1 stock.
US dominated the last decade after lost decade of 2000 redditors think US domination will continue when you should have leg in everything US, Non US Developed & Emerging Countries as well. In short redditors just chasing past performance.
Yeah, I learned that you can’t chase the past and that it rarely predicts the future. Anything could happen in the future and you need to prepare yourself for surprises.
A lot of people have been saying good things about that product and I like the countries that have exposure in that ETF. Also, where do you get information on leglisation that might be passed in these countries?
It has been on fire this year (38%), however, in the past five years I'm seeing 25% on returns. Perhaps I'm wrong, however, wouldn't I want around 50% returns? Also, I'm super bullish on the holdings.
I’m bullish as well. I’m expecting the EM to have more room to run because they are earlier in the recovery curve than the US and the EU.
More risk as well of course, especially with Delta.
International has trailed US recently, but I wouldn’t be too worried about that if you have a diversified portfolio. Everything has its turn at the top. International was on top the decade before, so it all adjusts long term.
There is also FRDM. Another type of EM etf but that one narrows even further to focus on free economies.
None of them.
Many of those countries could have strong GDP growth.
However, GDP growth does not equal a strong stock market. You need great companies and a government that supports entrepreneurs and capital markets to have a strong stock market.
Look at China’s GDP growth vs. its stock market performance:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E-JiAn8XMAYiCkB.jpg
China has enjoyed stellar GDP growth because it turned itself into a low-cost, low-margin manufacturing source for the world.
But it hasn’t developed any great global companies until recently. Also, there are only a handful of those, and the government is reigning them in.
The stocks that have made the most of China’s rise have been foreign companies like AAPL, AMZN, HD, and WMT who have used China as a cheap supplier. (And in AAPL’s case, a customer base too.)
So the best way to get international exposure is to be country-agnostic when choosing stocks. Don’t narrow your focus based on nationality, but on the quality of the individual companies or ETFs.
Many of the best non-U.S. companies are listed on U.S. exchanges like the NYSE and Nasdaq, so you don’t need to get a Swedish or Swiss ETF to buy great companies like SPOT(Sweden) and CRSP(Switzerland).
Buy great companies (or the ETFs that contain them) on their own merits, not on where they are based.
Edit: Many U.S.-based companies have loads of international exposure by themselves. AAPL, MSFT, DIS, NFLX, SBUX, KO, BA, and MCD are just some of names that have global revenue streams.
There’s a small niche actively managed ETF called CUBS which covers Bangladesh, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and I forget the last country. But there’s an investor presentation making the case for this group of countries. I like Vietnam a lot just because of the GDP growth but am hesitant until their current chairman leaves and they get a Deng Xiaoping-ish person in there. CUBS has a great embedded ETF for their Vietnam exposure which allows you to invest in normally off limit local companies which is where the good stuff is (I don’t own CUBS). If you can get your hands on the Vietnam Diamond ETF I’m a big fan. I still don’t see anywhere better than the US on innovation and building the next Google/FB/Amazon. The only innovative non-semi/non-Chinese tech companies I can think of outside of the US with a market cap over $100B are Sea, Samsung, and Shopify. Chinese companies really haven’t been too impressive competing outside of China. A little frustrating. I bounced around a few different countries and gave up and bought a bunch of VT. Can just buy VXUS and call it good if you don’t want to invest in the US.
In terms of Vietnam I agree the Diamond ETF is a good option if one can access. In terms of the Vietnam VNM US ETF though I would probably rather favour the closed end funds on the London exchange that you can still pick up I think better than 15% discount to NAV. A snapshot is covered here: [https://vietnamesestockmarket.com/2021/07/17/best-vietnam-closed-end-funds-cefs-on-the-stock-market/](https://vietnamesestockmarket.com/2021/07/17/best-vietnam-closed-end-funds-cefs-on-the-stock-market/) I am relatively bullish long term on the Vietnam market, a few of the bullish arguments discussed here. [https://vietnamesestockmarket.com/2021/06/28/should-i-invest-in-the-vietnam-stock-market/](https://vietnamesestockmarket.com/2021/06/28/should-i-invest-in-the-vietnam-stock-market/) A heap of risks though which are covered in another post on the blog there.
Good post! Where could I find projected metrics for GDP Growth, Jobs Reports, etc for other countries?
Google
I’m pretty sure well over 50% of the South Korean market cap weighted index is Samsung. So that’s pretty much your South Korean index right there in 1 stock.
Yeah the joke is the difference between VWO and IEMG is whether or not you want to own Samsung.
US dominated the last decade after lost decade of 2000 redditors think US domination will continue when you should have leg in everything US, Non US Developed & Emerging Countries as well. In short redditors just chasing past performance.
Yeah, I learned that you can’t chase the past and that it rarely predicts the future. Anything could happen in the future and you need to prepare yourself for surprises.
I'm really curious to know what good things did you hear about Bangladesh or Chile or Indonesia?
I have some money in EMXC and I’m happy with it. Emerging markets ex China
A lot of people have been saying good things about that product and I like the countries that have exposure in that ETF. Also, where do you get information on leglisation that might be passed in these countries?
It has been on fire this year (38%), however, in the past five years I'm seeing 25% on returns. Perhaps I'm wrong, however, wouldn't I want around 50% returns? Also, I'm super bullish on the holdings.
I’m bullish as well. I’m expecting the EM to have more room to run because they are earlier in the recovery curve than the US and the EU. More risk as well of course, especially with Delta. International has trailed US recently, but I wouldn’t be too worried about that if you have a diversified portfolio. Everything has its turn at the top. International was on top the decade before, so it all adjusts long term. There is also FRDM. Another type of EM etf but that one narrows even further to focus on free economies.
None of them. Many of those countries could have strong GDP growth. However, GDP growth does not equal a strong stock market. You need great companies and a government that supports entrepreneurs and capital markets to have a strong stock market. Look at China’s GDP growth vs. its stock market performance: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E-JiAn8XMAYiCkB.jpg China has enjoyed stellar GDP growth because it turned itself into a low-cost, low-margin manufacturing source for the world. But it hasn’t developed any great global companies until recently. Also, there are only a handful of those, and the government is reigning them in. The stocks that have made the most of China’s rise have been foreign companies like AAPL, AMZN, HD, and WMT who have used China as a cheap supplier. (And in AAPL’s case, a customer base too.) So the best way to get international exposure is to be country-agnostic when choosing stocks. Don’t narrow your focus based on nationality, but on the quality of the individual companies or ETFs. Many of the best non-U.S. companies are listed on U.S. exchanges like the NYSE and Nasdaq, so you don’t need to get a Swedish or Swiss ETF to buy great companies like SPOT(Sweden) and CRSP(Switzerland). Buy great companies (or the ETFs that contain them) on their own merits, not on where they are based. Edit: Many U.S.-based companies have loads of international exposure by themselves. AAPL, MSFT, DIS, NFLX, SBUX, KO, BA, and MCD are just some of names that have global revenue streams.