Vanguard Total International Stock ETF

VXUS

Market cap $140B

The best ETFs are diversified, ultra-cheap, and built for long-term wealth creation. Even if you have little money to start, you can kickstart your portfolio with any of these high-quality core ETFs.

Just because an ETF underperforms another ETF or index doesn't make it bad. You have to understand how the fund is structured, its investment strategy, and what it's trying to accomplish.

Almost 1,000 active ETFs launched in 2025, but did their performance substantiate the demand? Across the universe of funds, active managers for ETFs and mutual funds found that outperformance was elusive compared to their passive peers based on the latest Morningstar US Active/Passive Barometer report.

You don't need large sums of money to begin constructing a quality, diversified portfolio. Vanguard specializes in broad, low-cost index funds that are made for long-term buy-and-hold investors.

IEMG carries a slightly higher expense ratio and a lower dividend yield than VXUS. IEMG's one-year return outpaced VXUS, but it has experienced a steeper five-year drawdown.

Over the past decade, U.S. stocks have dominated international stocks in terms of both earnings growth and total returns. In 2026, international earnings growth is expected to be relatively comparable to that of the United States.

Recent Vanguard research forecasts higher growth for international stocks than for U.S. stocks -- for the next 10 years. The Vanguard Total International Stock ETF has outperformed the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq-100 index for the past year.

Roxanna Islam, head of sector and industry research at VettaFi, joined Nate Geraci on this week's ETF Prime to discuss record international equity flows. The category saw net inflows of over $220 billion in 2025 with momentum continuing into 2026 at roughly $75 billion year-to-date.

The exit velocity from 2025 is continuing into 2026. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have already gathered over $250 billion in inflows in the first six weeks of the new year, proving that demand for the investment vehicle remains robust despite a volatile start.

The Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS) holds nearly 8,700 stocks. VXUS contains companies from both developed and emerging markets.