EconoMarcus

The Next Big Thing: Emerging Asia

Alan, re availability of the DB fund in the US: Yes, it is not listed in the US. But it depends on one's broker whether one has access to it or not. I have read that e.g. through Fidelity it can be bought easily on the London Stock Exchange. On the contrary if one's broker is e.g. TD Ameritrade she/he will not be able to buy it because they don't grant direct access to European or Asian markets. But as I know that there are also quite a lot of non-US readers/writers (like myself) here on seekingalpha I hope my comment is still useful to some. In any case: I think you'll be quite happy with VNM as well.

At least I hope VNM can keep it up. Usually I just like to pick a product that has a certain track record. VNM of course has non yet; the DB fund has about two years, not much either but at least something. In this case the one ETF with the (although short) track record is also the one with the lower TER, or in other words: lower fixed costs that will weigh less heavy on any future *real* performance. So understandably my preference was and is obvious. But then again: Van Eck has shown in the past that they can put together pretty good ETFs as well and I do not doubt that VNM will do well also.