VSS Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETF

© 2023 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Vanguard ETFs as a share class: Vanguard ETFs® (exchange-traded funds) are a class of shares listed for trading on an exchange. The shares are available only through a broker, including Vanguard Brokerage Services®.

Vanguard ETF® Shares are not redeemable with the issuing fund other than in very large aggregations worth millions of dollars. Instead, investors must buy and sell Vanguard ETF Shares in the secondary market and hold those shares in a brokerage account. In doing so, the investor may incur brokerage commissions and may pay more than net asset value when buying and receive less than net asset value when selling.

Total returns: Short-term total return information is provided only as a service. Historical performance—particularly short-term performance—is no guarantee of future returns. Price, yield, and return on an actual investment will fluctuate, and you may have a gain or loss when you sell. Average annual returns include changes in price and reinvestments of dividends and capital gains. Since-inception returns for less than 1 year and year-to-date returns aren't annualized. Index performance is provided as a benchmark but isn't illustrative of any particular investment. You can't invest in an index.

Standardized returns: To see quarterly fee-adjusted returns, refer to the Price & Performance details.

Expense ratios: Expense ratios are displayed on Overview. For investments that are less than 1 fiscal year old, expense ratios are estimated.

Risk: All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest. Funds that concentrate on a relatively narrow market sector face the risk of higher share-price volatility. Investments in stocks or bonds issued by non-U.S. companies are subject to risks including country/regional risk and currency risk.

Vanguard average ETF expense ratio: 0.05%. Industry average ETF expense ratio: 0.22%. All averages are asset-weighted. Industry average excludes Vanguard. Sources: Vanguard and Morningstar, Inc., as of December 31, 2023.

An investment in the fund could lose money over short or even long periods. You should expect the fund’s share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range, like the fluctuations of the overall stock market. Although FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETF are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca , it is possible that an active trading market may not be maintained. Trading of FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETF on the NYSE Arca may be halted if NYSE Arca officials deem such action appropriate, if FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETF are delisted from the NYSE Arca, or if the activation of marketwide “circuit breakers” halts stock trading generally. The fund’s performance could be hurt by:

• Stock market risk: The chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising stock prices and periods of falling stock prices. The fund’s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks tend to be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions. In addition, the fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
• Country/Regional risk: The chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, its performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/Regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
• Emerging markets risk: The chance the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.
• Special risks of investing in China: The fund’s investments in companies or issuers economically tied to China are subject to the country/regional, emerging markets, and currency risks described above, in addition to unique risks. Investments economically tied to China are associated with considerable degrees of social and humanitarian, legal, regulatory, political, and economic uncertainty. Risks described above may be more pronounced for the fund. All of these factors, among others, could have negative impacts on the fund. For example, the fund may not be able to access its desired amount of shares of companies incorporated in China that trade on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges (A-shares) and/or the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (H-shares), which may cause the fund to miss out on investment opportunities. Investments economically tied to China may be (or become in the future) restricted or sanctioned by the U.S. government or another government, which could cause these securities to decline in value or become less liquid. If the fund’s holdings become impacted by restrictions or sanctions, the fund may incur losses. Additionally, the fund may gain exposure to certain companies in China through legal structures known as variable interest entities (VIEs), which provide exposure to Chinese companies through contractual arrangements instead of equity ownership. Investing through a VIE does not offer the same level of investor protection as direct ownership and is subject to risks including breach of the contractual arrangements, difficulty in enforcing the contractual arrangements outside of the U.S., and intervention by the U.S. government. These risks could significantly affect a VIE’s market value, which in turn could impact the fund’s performance.
• Currency risk: The chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates.
• Index sampling risk: The chance that the securities selected for the fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the index. Index sampling risk for the fund should be low.
• Index-related risks: The fund is subject to risks associated with index investing, which include passive management risk, tracking error risk, and index provider risk. Passive management risk is the chance that the fund's use of an indexing strategy will negatively impact the fund's performance. Because the fund seeks to track the performance of its target index regardless of how that index is performing, the fund's performance may be lower than it would be if the fund were actively managed. Tracking error risk is the chance that the fund's performance will deviate from the performance of its target index. Tracking error risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or under other unusual market conditions. Index provider risk is the chance that the fund will be negatively impacted by changes or errors made by the index provider. Any gains, losses, or costs associated with or resulting from an error made by the index provider will generally be borne by the fund and, as a result, the fund's shareholders.
• Investment style risk: The chance that returns from non-U.S. small-capitalization stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Historically, non-U.S. small-capitalization stocks have been more volatile in price than the large-cap stocks that dominate the overall market, and they often perform quite differently.