VSS: A Thousand Bucks & a Quiet Hope

But it wasn’t the big boys getting all the attention, not really. It was the little guys. Specifically, the ex-U.S. small-cap stocks, conveniently packaged in funds like the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETF (VSS +0.08%). Last year, it returned nearly 30%. Thirty percent! Which, in my experience, is enough to make even a seasoned trader briefly consider a career change – maybe alpaca farming. It certainly outperformed the Russell 2000 and the S&P SmallCap 600, which is nice, I suppose. Though I’m not sure those indexes were actively rooting for VSS.








