What You Actually Own When You Buy VEQT

One Ticker, Thousands of Stocks

When you buy a single unit of VEQT on the TSX, you're not just buying "a fund." You're gaining exposure to approximately 13,700 individual stocks across more than 50 countries. Here's how that works.

The Three Layers

Think of VEQT as a three-layer cake:

Layer 1: You buy VEQT. One ticker, one transaction, done.

Layer 2: VEQT holds four underlying ETFs. Each one covers a different region of the global stock market:

ETF	Region	Weight	Approx. Stocks
VUN	United States	~40%	~4,000
VCN	Canada	~30%	~200
VIU	International Developed	~23%	~6,000
VEE	Emerging Markets	~7%	~5,000

Layer 3: Those ETFs hold individual stocks. VUN holds Apple, Microsoft, Amazon. VCN holds Royal Bank, TD, Shopify. VIU holds Nestlé, ASML, Toyota. VEE holds TSMC, Samsung, Reliance Industries.

You own all of them.

Your Biggest Holdings

Because VEQT is market-cap weighted, your largest positions are in the world's biggest companies. Your top 10 holdings look something like this:

1. Apple Inc. (~4.2%)
2. Microsoft Corp. (~3.8%)
3. NVIDIA Corp. (~3.1%)
4. Amazon.com (~2.3%)
5. Royal Bank of Canada (~1.8%)
6. Toronto-Dominion Bank (~1.4%)
7. Alphabet (Google) (~1.3%)
8. Meta Platforms (~1.2%)
9. Broadcom (~1.1%)
10. Tesla (~0.9%)

Notice the pattern: mostly US mega-caps, with Canadian banks mixed in. That's because the US is roughly 40% of your portfolio and these companies are enormous.

Sector Exposure

VEQT gives you exposure to every major sector of the global economy:

• Technology (~25%) — the largest sector by far, driven by US tech giants
• Financials (~20%) — banks, insurance companies, and asset managers worldwide (plus heavy Canadian bank exposure)
• Healthcare (~10%) — pharmaceutical companies, medical devices, biotech
• Consumer Discretionary (~10%) — retail, autos, entertainment
• Industrials (~10%) — manufacturing, aerospace, construction

The remaining ~25% is spread across energy, consumer staples, materials, communications, utilities, and real estate.

Geographic Exposure

This is where it gets interesting. VEQT's geographic allocation is:

• United States — ~40%
• Canada — ~30%
• International Developed (Europe, Japan, Australia, etc.) — ~23%
• Emerging Markets (China, India, Brazil, etc.) — ~7%

The "Canada Overweight" Discussion

Here's something worth understanding: Canada represents only about 3% of global stock market capitalization. Yet VEQT allocates approximately 30% to Canadian stocks. That's a 10x overweight.

This is deliberate. It's called "home-country bias," and Vanguard builds it in intentionally. The reasoning:

Arguments for the Canada overweight:

• Your expenses are in Canadian dollars, so holding Canadian stocks provides natural currency alignment
• Canadian dividends receive preferential tax treatment in non-registered accounts
• Reduces currency risk and the impact of CAD/USD fluctuations on your portfolio
• Many Canadians are more comfortable with a meaningful allocation to companies they know

Arguments against:

• Canada's stock market is heavily concentrated in financials and energy — you're taking a sector bet
• You're missing out on the full diversification benefit of a true global market-weight portfolio
• Other countries' stock markets may outperform Canada over long periods

Reasonable people disagree on this. If you think 30% Canada is too much, you might prefer XEQT, which holds about 25% Canada and more US stocks. Neither approach is objectively wrong.

How This Changes Over Time

VEQT's holdings aren't fixed. They shift as:

• Markets move — if US stocks outperform, the US portion of each underlying ETF grows. Vanguard periodically rebalances VEQT back toward its targets.
• Indices are reconstituted — the underlying indexes add and remove stocks, typically quarterly.
• Vanguard adjusts target weights — Vanguard occasionally changes VEQT's target allocation (though this is infrequent).

For the current detailed breakdown, see the Inside VEQT page, which shows the full geography, sector, and holdings data.

Why This Breadth Matters

This breadth of coverage is partly why VEQT stands out among all-in-one ETFs. The FTSE and CRSP indices that VEQT uses tend to include more of the total market — including smaller companies — compared to the S&P and MSCI indices used by competitors like XEQT. More holdings means more diversification, which is the entire point of buying an all-in-one fund.

The Takeaway

When you buy VEQT, you're buying a tiny piece of the global economy. You own everything from Apple to a small Canadian mining company to a Japanese auto manufacturer. You're diversified across countries, sectors, and company sizes.

That's the point. You don't need to pick winners. You own all of them.