ETF Expert

You’re not sure how long the market uptrend will stay intact. You’re wary of a spooky October. Nevertheless, you’re strongly considering an allocation to regional stock ETFs in the next 2-4 weeks.

Perhaps what you need, then, is a bit of insurance.

More specifically, a number of regional ETFs make larger semi-annual or annual payouts in December, effectively increasing the dividend payment you’d receive over a comparable investment with a quarterly payout schedule.

For instance, let’s say you want exposure to the MSCI Emerging Market Index. You know that the iShares MSCI Emerging Market Fund (EEM) has larger trading volume than Vanguard Emerging Market (VWO), which might result in a better execution price. On the other hand, VWO costs a little less. What to do?

You take a look at the distribution schedules.

EEM pays out on a semi-annual basis, giving the emerging market investor reason to expect 1.5% in December. Meanwhile, Vanguard is still serving up its VWO distributions on an annual basis such that… the emerging market investor can expect 3.0% in a lump sum come December. 

Keep in mind, these “moves” are more for traders. Still, when every little bit can make a difference… the end-of-year distribution schedule is worthy of inspection.

In some cases, there won’t be a difference. Claymore BRIC (EEB) and SPDR BRIC 40 (BIK) are extraordinarily similar over time. And they both have the same year-end annual payout. You might anticipate 1.6% in December from BIK or EEB.

(Note: BRIC stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China. Find out why China is the best of the BRIC nations.)

If you’d like to learn more about ETF investing… then tune into “In the Money With Gary Gordon.” You can listen to the show “LIVE”, via podcast or on your iPod.

Tags | "brazil etfs", "BRIC ETF", "BRIC", "eem", "emerging market and etfs", "MSCI emerging", "VWO"