ETF Is S&P Global 100 (IOO) suitable to track international equities?

Hi all,

I started early this year using IOO S&P global 100 to track international markets (large cap).

But i have always wondered if it was too focused - only 100 shares?!

So maybe there is better all-market tracking with the use of these instead:
IVE (all except US) and IVV (US only S&P US 500)
It does look like these two ETFs in combo gives us fairly good diversification and representation of international markets.
What do you think?

Sure wish the IOO ETF was tracking the larger S&P Global 1200 index instead
Now that's diversification!

 

Hi Venger0,

You might want to check out MSCI which is a standard global index.

You can read more about it here http://www.msci.com/methodology/meth_docs/MSCI_Feb08_GIMIMethod.pdf

If 12,578 stocks isn't enough for you I don't know what is

Cheers,

Dan

 

EAFE and S&P500 misses out on emerging markets like China and India.

IVE, IVV, and IEM will cover everything. If only they just gave an ETF that tracked the MSCI World Index.

 

Hi Norak - agree! i note that the index funds use the MSCI World ex-Australia. Do wish we had an ETF that did this...

It would be nice to have a few more choices eg,

- MSCI World ex-Australia
- International REIT (may not be going up anytime soon tho!)
- ASX large value
- ASX small value
- ASX small cap

 

If you look at IVE it claims to invest in Europe, Australasia, and Far East, but about 90% of its assets are in Europe, so I would regard it as basically a Europe ETF. IVE also has lower MER than IEU, so IEU seems pointless.

Instead of buying IOO maybe you can buy half IVE and half IVV. IVV has MER of 0.09 per cent, which is very low.

 

yes - certainly an idea there...

having said that, i finally decided to hold onto my IOO for the next year+, I have a feeling that using one 'global' large cap index is easier than 2 large cap ones. My reasoning:
(1) less one fund to manage and since my international exposure is only 30%, IOO with IEM will make it easier and cheaper to rebalance in 1-2 years time
(2) i had a closer look at the make up of the IOO fund, the holdings are actually quite well represented in terms of countries. So it should follow the MSCI world index to first order... will check on this over time..
Also, time will tell whether 100 companies is sufficient diversification for me.. but i think so in my case, esp. since international large cap is a minor portion of my holdings.