Rakuten Vanguard ETF Funds

[Roman Empire]

Rakuten Group has just announced that they have launched new funds that invest Vanguard ETFs. They have launched one fund that invests in VT and another one that invests in VTI. It doesn't seem like a bad deal to invest in those ETFs from Japan through the funds because the company does not charge any front load fees and it will be easy to reinvest dividends.

https://www.rakuten-sec.co.jp/web/fund/ ... 90C000FHC4

https://www.rakuten-sec.co.jp/web/fund/ ... 90C000FHD2

[N00bster]

Proxy funds? Pretty good idea. I suppose they take an extra fee on top of the Vanguard funds though?

[fools_gold]

Thanks for this! The fees look pretty low too. I think I might start using these from now on.

[Roman Empire]

Rakuten does charge extra on top of the expense ratios for the ETFs.

In the case of these two funds, the company charges 0.1296% (0.12% plus consumption tax) on top of the ETF expense ratios, which are 0.04% for VTI and 0.11% for VT. The fund that invests into VTI comes with total fees of 0.1696% and the fund that invests into VT comes with total fees of 0.2396%.

That’s still very competitive because there are practically no index funds in Japan that offer the same level of diversified exposure to global or US markets as these funds against a similar fee level. Perhaps State Street offers index funds that have similar exposure but I am not sure about it. I don’t know how those funds would compare to the new funds in terms of fees.

Another benefit is that investing into a Japan mutual fund is convenient for investors who want to invest small amounts on a regular basis, such as less than 100,000 yen every month. Investing into a domestic fund instead of directly into an overseas ETF will make it possible to automatically reinvest the dividends.

Let’s keep an eye out if the companies will announce any other new funds similar to these.

[workbalance]

Does the global fund include Japan? If so, It is a first, all the global index funds I have seen so far exclude Japan?

[RetireJapan]

VT is just over 8% Japan: http://www.etf.com/VT

[adamu]

Interesting. Any idea how it handles the US Withholding tax? I wonder if these will be available via SBI. Will take a closer look later.

[Roman Empire]

The funds should be offered through SBI Securities and Monex Securities as well.

https://www.vanguardjapan.co.jp/retail/ ... elease.htm

[vapid]

Is there any guide or blog post on setting up a Rakuten Investment account, in English. I would be interested in the possibility of creating an account and using it, but am struggling to figure everything out.

[RetireJapan]

Is there any guide or blog post on setting up a Rakuten Investment account, in English. I would be interested in the possibility of creating an account and using it, but am struggling to figure everything out.

It's on my list! Probably sometime next year at the earliest