Mutual Fund

  • Professional advisers actively managing investments on behalf of others at a fee.

Index Fund

  • First launched as Vanguard Group in 1976 by John C. Bogle, who believed that it was more important to stay invested. He created a fund that tracked S&P 500 (aka Vanguard 500 (VFINX)).

Exchange-traded Fund (ETF)

  • Same goal as index fund: to provide investors with a benchmark return at minimal cost. Difference is that it costs more to trade index funds while ETF is often traded commission-free.
  • Best to use the largest, most widely traded ETFs.

Vietnam

  • VanEck Vectors Vietnam ETF (VNM) -- companies in Vietnam, or at least 50% in Vietnam
  • Guggenheim Frontier Markets ETF (FRN) - 9% in Vietnam
  • Columbia Beyond BRICs ETF (BBRC) - 6% exposure to Vietnam
  • iShares MSCI Frontier 100 (FM) - 3.63% exposure to Vietnam