Been researching emerging markets etfs lately and stumbled on an interesting comparison between SCHE and SPGM. The Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF has been catching my eye because of the higher dividend yield at 2.7% versus SPGM's 1.8%, plus it's cheaper to hold at 0.07% expense ratio. Over the past year, SCHE returned 28.5% compared to SPGM's 25.2%, which is pretty solid.

That said, there's a trade-off here. SCHE is heavily concentrated - Taiwan Semiconductor alone is almost 15% of the fund, and you've got Tencent and Alibaba making up a big chunk too. So your returns are basically riding on a handful of Asian tech companies. SPGM gives you way more diversification with nearly 3,000 holdings spread across developed and emerging markets, led by Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft. The drawdown difference is pretty stark though - SCHE hit a max 5-year drawdown of 33.76% versus SPGM's 25.92%.

If you're looking at emerging markets etfs specifically for that diversification away from U.S. large caps, SCHE makes sense. But if you want global exposure with a safety net of mega-cap U.S. tech, SPGM is the more balanced play. It really depends on whether you're betting on emerging market growth or just want some international balance in your portfolio. Both have solid liquidity, though SCHE manages way more assets at 12.5 billion versus SPGM's 1.5 billion.