TedSwippet wrote:hiriskpaul wrote:VWRL is expensive compared to the sum of the parts, and I have never really understood the justification for this ...
Me neither. I built up my VWRL equivalent some years ago from HSBC's class C OEICs. These currently cost 0.06% for the UK and US, 0.07% for Europe and a whopping(!) 0.21% and 0.24% for Japan and Pacific ex-Japan respectively.
Admittedly I've left out niche items like Canada, and get my Emerging Markets fix elsewhere, but overall it's a pretty nicely globally diversified portfolio nevertheless. Its weighted cost is a truly skimpy 0.08%, and that even beats Vanguard US's VT. Held on iWeb, so no nasty percentage-based fees either.
All of the OEIC providers have been gradually reducing their charges. HSBC provide a good OEIC alternative to VWRL, tracking the same index for a TER of only 0.16%. If you are interested, Fidelity provide cheaper funds for Japan and Pacific ex-Japan at 0.1% and 0.13% respectively.
I am not entirely convinced these relatively small differences in charges actually make much difference to outcomes though. Vanguard and BlackRock/iShares are really good at running trackers with very small tracking errors. Their efficiency may make up for slightly higher TERs.